


Matchmaker

by Kitsune_Moonstar



Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-25
Updated: 2013-11-24
Packaged: 2018-01-02 14:01:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 73
Words: 30,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1057638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Moonstar/pseuds/Kitsune_Moonstar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being the Head of Research and the Dean of Student Affairs doesn't provide Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi Shihoin with enough work, so they've taken on a project or two to keep themselves entertained.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Matchmaker Matchmaker

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Bleach or its characters. This is AU.

**Matchmaker Matchmaker**

Kisuke Urahara propped his feet up on his desk, leaned back in his chair, and sighed. He was bored. As much as he enjoyed being head of research for ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Seireitei University, right now he had nothing to do. Well, nothing interesting. His position was largely administrative now, and he got very little time actually conducting research. Kisuke knew that was in part because of the tendency of his research projects to either cause problems or cost far more money than was in the budget or both. It just wasn't the same when he didn't have a project to work on.

He was not surprised when the Dean of Student Affairs came and perched on his desk. Yoruichi Shihoin had been his best friend for years, and she had the same problem with boredom that he did. The dark haired woman smiled mischievously at him.

"Are you as bored as I am?"

Kisuke perked up at her tone. "You have an idea?"

Yoruichi smirked. "A project actually. I saw Isshin's son the other day. He's in the pre-med program you know. He doesn't seemed to have changed much except for growing taller and perhaps more stubborn."

Their mutual friend, Isshin Kurosaki, had lost his wife a number of years ago. It had affected almost everyone in the family, but it had turned Ichigo from a smiling happy child into a brooding storm cloud that tried not to let anyone close. They had been hoping he would grow out of it.

"Anyway, he's moved into that new dorm building, the one that keeps needing repairs. And I happened to notice that Rukia Kuchiki is his next door neighbor."

He could see where she was going with this. If there was anyone who could break through Ichigo's wall of bad humor and solitude it would be Rukia. She was brash and rude at times, but the girl genuinely cared about those around her. It would also do Rukia some good to have someone like Ichigo around. Oh, she had her older brother and a number of friends, but most of them didn't always see past the masks she sometimes wore. No, she and Ichigo would be a good match for one another, especially when it came to sheer stubbornness.

"So, what exactly did you have in mind for those two?" Kisuke grinned.

Yoruichi produced a file folder and matched his grin. They had work to do.


	2. Make Me a Match

**Make Me a Match**

Ichigo unlocked his apartment with a sigh. He went to throw his bag on the couch and stopped short. There was a girl in his apartment. And luggage. She was short, dark haired, and in his apartment. And he didn't know who she was. Ichigo blinked just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. No, she was still there, and now she was looking at him. The girl offered him a smile.

"Hi, roomie."

He had just had three hours of biology, had a six page paper due in two days, and this girl was calling him roomie. Something was clearly wrong here.

"What the hell?"

She frowned. "Didn't you get the letter? My apartment needs some work on its plumbing, so they're making me your roommate for the next two months. The university gave all the details in the letter. There was even a door key in it. So where's my room?"

Ichigo hadn't gotten any such letter. He had just checked his mail too. It all sounded kind of fishy to him.

"Can I see the letter?"

"You don't believe me?"

No, he didn't have the tendency to trust strange girls who broke into his apartment and claimed they were going to live there. He didn't really have a tendency to trust anyone for that matter. Ichigo was not pleased at all. He didn't need this sort of headache. He had enough of them without adding on more.

"Well, I never got a letter, and as far as I'm concerned, that means I'm under no obligation to put up with you. So, the door's that way. Have a nice life."

She pouted at him. "You're just going to throw me out? But I don't have any place to go, and you're supposed to let me stay. It's not my fault you didn't get the letter."

Ichigo sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but she did have a point. Still, he wasn't thrilled about the idea of having a total stranger living with him for two months. Not to mention the ideas his father would get if he found out about it. That would really be a nightmare.

"Fine. You can stay. It's only a one bedroom apartment though, so you get the couch. And I expect that you'll clean up after yourself and take care of your part of the groceries and the housekeeping."

She beamed and held out a hand. "I'm Rukia Kuchiki."

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

He left her to get settled in and stomped off to his bedroom to brood some. This was going to take some getting used to. He hadn't shared space with another person since he moved out of his dad's house, and truthfully, Ichigo had been enjoying the solitude. It was nice to be away from the insanity of his dad. He missed his sisters some, but there was also some freedom in not being there all the time. If Karin and Yuzu needed him, he would be there, but it was nice not being constantly on duty. Since his mother's death, Ichigo had been his sisters' protector whether it be from bad dreams or bullies at school. But the girls were getting to the point where they didn't need him on a regular basis. They were all adjusting to that.

With a sigh, Ichigo flopped down on his bed. Why him? He really didn't need this sort of complication. He had just started school, and while university was beginning to make sense, it was still kind of overwhelming and definitely exhausting. The last thing he needed was having to be sociable with another person on a regular basis. A number of his friends from school went here, but they at least knew when to leave him alone. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.

Ichigo heard a crash and muttered curses coming from the other room. He let out another sigh. It was going to be a long two months.


	3. Find Me a Find

**Find Me a Find**

Rukia frowned at the sink and tried to come up with the proper response to her roommate sarcastic comment. Living with other people when there weren't servants around to pick up after everyone was something of a pain. Rukia enjoyed the freedom of living on her own, but there were some things she missed about the luxury of living with her family. Still, there was something to be said about sharing space. Ichigo was rather fun to rile up. He had the tendency to be just as sarcastic as she was. It took them a while, but they had been able to find a balance where they could live together and not kill one another.

Of course, that didn't keep her from getting irritated with Ichigo. The guy could depress a hyena at times. She wasn't sure what exactly his problem was, but he had a tendency to close himself off from everything around him. More than once Rukia had found herself dragging him out to have some fun. She'd practically made him introduce her to some of his friends. They seemed like a nice bunch, and Rukia couldn't quite figure out why Ichigo didn't spend more time with them.

Still, for all his surliness and unsociability, Ichigo was a good friend. Rukia had seen that first hand in the way he looked out for the members of his small group of friends. Once you had Ichigo's loyalty, he would go to just about any extreme for you. He also was rather oblivious to certain things. For instance, Rukia was pretty certain that both Tatsuki and Orihime had crushes on him. Or in Orihime's case, infatuation was a better word. Ichigo either was completely oblivious to this fact or was a very good actor. Given that he was a guy in his twenties, Rukia was going to go for oblivious.

She hadn't expected to come home from class today and find her roommate more taciturn than ever. Something was clearly wrong by the way he was acting, though Rukia wasn't sure what it was. Tomorrow was a Saturday though. Perhaps she could find some sort of activity for them to do together. After her visit though. Once a month Rukia made a trip to her sister's grave. She would bring flowers and chat with Hisana, filling her in on the newest events in her life. Rukia truthfully didn't remember much about her older sister. When they had been orphaned, the system had separated them pretty quickly. Hisana had been dead several years before her husband had found Rukia and she had been adopted into his family.

But talking Hisana's grave allowed her to say things she wouldn't tell anyone else, and it made her feel closer to her sister. This time around she was longer at the florist than she expected, and when Rukia arrived at the graveyard, she found something rather unexpected. Ichigo was here. What was more, he seemed to be here with his family. And he didn't seem to have noticed her. She watched as the little group made their way to a grave.

It was probably the anniversary of a death in the family. Rukia left to it and returned to her conversation with her sister. When the sky started to get overcast, Rukia was just about done. She gathered up her things and her umbrella and decided to head home. To her surprise, Ichigo was still here, though it looked like the rest of his family had left. It was starting to rain though, and he clearly didn't have an umbrella. So Rukia headed over to the grave he was standing in front of. As she got closer she could see who it was for: Masaki Kurosaki. His mother.

Taking a deep breath, Rukia walked over to Ichigo's side, holding the umbrella over them both. Ichigo didn't really seem to notice at first. Rukia waited. Sometime it took a little while to come out of the spell you were under when visited someone's grave. Finally, he glanced over at her. Rukia smiled gently.

"Hey." She didn't ask questions. It was really not something you wanted to deal with when you were visiting someone. If Ichigo wanted to talk or explain, he'd do so when he was ready. If not, that was fine with Rukia.

"She died ten years ago."

He would have been nine. Rukia remembered being nine. It was a year or so before Byakuya found her. It might also explain why Ichigo was so antisocial. Losing your mom at that age would have sucked. You were old enough to remember her, but not old enough to realize that there would be a time where Mom wasn't around all the time. And the flat tone he said it in made Rukia think there was more to this story than just that.

She didn't push though, and the two of them began to walk back towards campus. At some point, Ichigo took the umbrella; it was easier for him to hold it, so they were both covered. It continued to rain, and somewhere along the line, Ichigo began to talk. It had been on a rainy day that his mother had died, and he had been with her when it happened. The whole story poured out, including the guilt that he felt. Finally when he ran out of words, an awkward silence descended, and Rukia found herself telling him her story. By the time they finally got home, it was really too late to go out and do much of anything. But that was okay with Rukia. What they had done today was pretty important. Of course, she also had a feeling that it wasn't going to change much. Which meant there was an argument coming over whose turn it was to wash dishes.


	4. Catch Me a Catch

**Catch Me a Catch**

"It's your turn."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it is. I did it yesterday, and that makes it your turn."

"But I did it twice in a row before that. Therefore, it's still your turn."

"That's only because you just had to make brownies to go with your midterm studying. You were cleaning up from that and did the rest of the dishes as well. You didn't have to do the dishes then."

"So just because I didn't have to wash them, it doesn't count? That doesn't make any sense. I did the work, so it counts."

Rukia's hands found their way to her hips as she glared at Ichigo. The man was insufferable. He glared right back at her. She wasn't going to back down about this, and it looked like neither was he. Eventually one of them would have to give in, and it wasn't going to be her.

"Fine. We'll just leave them then."

They would see how long it would take one of them to cave and actually wash the dishes. Rukia bet the Ichigo wouldn't last more than two days. He liked having his apartment orderly, and the dishes piled in the sink would drive him crazy before too long. That would be quite all right with her. It wasn't like she didn't do her part on a regular basis. The whole thing would probably blow over any way. They were like that. The two of them could spend all day arguing over something, but when something else came up it was forgotten. There were times when Rukia wondered if they were just arguing because they could. She would admit that at times arguing with Ichigo was a lot of fun.

Despite their near constant bickering, the two of them actually managed to live together quite well. At least, no one had died yet. Rukia had been annoyed about being forced out of her apartment for two months at first, but really, this wasn't all that bad. It was a good thing that Ichigo was her next door neighbor though. Once she moved back into her apartment, Rukia had the feeling that she would be dropping in on Ichigo quite a bit. It would be nice to have a little more space and privacy, but Rukia knew she was going to miss his company.

But it would be awhile before she moved out. Rukia had gotten a call the other day explaining that there had been complications in the repairs, and they would take three weeks longer than planned. She hadn't told Ichigo that yet though. Rukia was actually planning on telling him when he was distracted by something. It would go in one and ear and out the other, but he couldn't say she didn't tell him. Helping herself to the cookies Ichigo's sister had sent home with him, Rukia gathered up her text books and flopped down on the couch. She had a research paper to write for next week, and while she didn't exactly like the class, Professor Aizen seemed nice enough.

At some point she must have fallen asleep over her books, and when she woke, she found that Ichigo had covered her with a blanket and that someone had washed the dishes. Rukia yawned. Her notes were scattered on the floor beside the couch, and she collected them with a sigh. This term paper was really killing her. The topic was just so boring that she had trouble staying focused on the paper itself. And the class was an elective for heaven's sake. Weren't electives supposed to be fun? It took her most of the weekend, but Rukia managed to get through the term paper. She turned it with a sigh of relief and didn't think much more about it.


	5. Look Through Your Book

**Look Through Your Book**

Ichigo frowned at the kitchen cabinets. He wasn't sure what he was in the mood for, and it was his turn to cook dinner. Technically, it was supposed to be Rukia's turn, but she had a late class, and he didn't want to wait for her to get back and then spend an hour or so actually cooking. It was much easier if the food was simply ready when she got home. Besides, he didn't really want to deal with her temper. Rukia had spent the two weeks slaving over this term paper, and she would finally be getting it back today. If she hadn't done well on it, she was going to be in a foul mood.

Finally deciding on homemade mac and cheese, Ichigo got to work cooking. It was an easy enough meal to put together. Mac and cheese, a salad, and some sort of bread would do. Ichigo was extremely grateful he knew how to cook. Living off of fast food and cup of noodles got old after awhile, and truthfully, he found the tasks associated with cooking rather soothing. It was a good way to destress and take a break from all of his schoolwork. Besides, if he didn't cook, their menu choices would be rather limited. Rukia could not cook. She could bake. In fact, she was an incredible baker when it came to things like cookies and brownies, and she didn't indulge in exotic flavors like Orihime did. However, when it came to actually cooking, the most complicated thing Rukia could manage was boiling water.

When it was Rukia's turn to cook, typically they either had take out or something from a box or a can. Still, her baking more than made up for it. Ichigo had the feeling that he was now addicted to the chocolate chip cookies she made at least once a week. They never lasted more than a week. He swore his friends were dropping by more often these days just because of the cookies. They were especially good with vanilla ice cream. Of course, the cookies weren't the only reason he put up with Rukia. She was a surprisingly good companion. Their dynamic had changed some since that day in the graveyard. He didn't feel that he always had to keep his mask up around her all the time.

Ichigo had the feeling that she had discovered the same thing about him. From what she had said, it sounded like her adopted brother was still pretty deep in grief himself. Sometimes when that happened, it was hard to see how much the people around you were hurting too. That was the problem with his dad a lot of the time. It seemed like sometimes the only way to cope with the loss of the love of your life was to go a little insane. Ichigo supposed he couldn't really make judgments though. Everyone in the family had developed their own quirks to deal with the pain. Yuzu had become Suzie Homemaker, Karin had developed a chip on her shoulder, and he had withdrawn from personal connections.

Rukia seemed be throwing herself into her school work and hoping to earn her brother's approval with good grades and academic success. To each his own, he guessed. Ichigo had never actually met Byakuya Kuchiki, but he had heard of the man before. He was one of the best legal minds in the country. Of course, the whole Kuchiki family was well known for their contributions to the legal field. Rukia had a lot to live up to in that sense. Of course, she had not exactly gone into law yet. Ichigo didn't know if she was planning to or not. Currently, her major was communications, and she seemed to really be enjoying that.

They'd had some interesting discussions so far about medical communication, especially between doctors and patients. Ichigo wasn't really to the point where his pre-med classes were very interesting, but he already knew what he wanted to do with his medical degree. Of course, it helped that he had grown up around doctors and clinics. Ichigo knew that he wanted go into family practice. He wanted to get to know his patients, not just see whoever came in that day.

The sound of the lock turning caught his attention.

"Hey, you're back early. Dinner will be ready in just a minute."

There wasn't a response. With a frown, Ichigo turned around. Rukia stood in the doorway looking rather shell-shocked.

"Hey. Rukia." He snapped his fingers at her.

She met his eyes. "I'm being expelled."


	6. And Make Me a Perfect Match

**And Make Me a Perfect Match**

Rukia was still in a state of shock. She had not expected her evening to go the way it had at all. She had gone to class feeling fairly excited about getting her paper back, and the class itself wasn't too bad. When she hadn't gotten her paper back and Professor Aizen had asked her to stay after class she had begun to worry. When he had started on how plagiarism was a serious offense, she had been startled and a sinking feeling began forming in the pit of her stomach. Then he had produced the other paper. Who had written it was marked out, but it was clear from just glancing over it that parts of it were identical to her own. And Professor Aizen didn't believe her when she had said she had never seen the other paper before.

They were already in the process of expelling her she was told. She would need to wait and hear from the University Committee in charge to hear what the final result would be and if she would be allowed to finish the term. So it was no wonder that she was kind of out of when she got home. She remembered blurting out to Ichigo that she was being expelled. The next thing she remembered was being sat down on the couch with a cup of tea in her hands. Of course, tea tended to be Ichigo's response to crises when he couldn't hit something.

It wasn't hard for him to coax the full story out of her. Rukia was frustrated and upset about this, and it felt good to be able to tell someone and have them actually listen to her. Ichigo's frown got progressively deeper as he listened.

"And the professor didn't let you do anything to defend yourself or prove that you didn't copy someone?"

She shook her head. "No. He didn't even go to my advisor with this because I know Professor Ukitake would have contacted me about something like this. I've just barely started school, and it's already over."

"Not necessarily." Ichigo was still frowning, but he also looked thoughtful. "There has to be an appeal process, and it's not like they can make a decision without talking to you first. That wouldn't be fair. We need to find out what the process is for this, so we can protest it. Do you have the original file on your computer for the paper?"

Rukia nodded, a little confused. "Yes, but what good with that do?"

"There's a mode that will show all the changes to a document. It also shows if you cut and past things. We can use that as evidence that you didn't copy the paper from somebody." Ichigo sighed. "Let's eat, and then we can work on a plan."

She realized then that he kept saying 'we'. She wasn't going to have to do this alone. Impulsively, Rukia threw her arms around Ichigo in a tight hug. He seemed rather taken aback by this but hugged her back however tentatively. He let go and pulled her towards the table.

"Come on, let's eat. Then we can figure out how to fix this."


	7. I'll Bring the Veil

**I'll Bring the Veil**

Ichigo did not like this at all. There was something very suspicious about the whole matter. He and Rukia were having quite a bit of trouble navigating the university system when it came to her expulsion. It should have been simple enough, but apparently Rukia was an exception to a number of rules. That wouldn't have bothered him so much if her advisor, Professor Ukitake, hadn't been having so much trouble as well. Ukitake was just one of the faculty members supporting Rukia. At this point, they had quite a cadre of supports. Once his friends had found out about what was going on with Rukia, they had insisted on being involved.

So while things had started out with the five of them, everyone had gotten other people involved. Rukia had checked in with her own advisor only to find that he hadn't even heard about the issue yet. Chad and Ishida had tackled figuring out just what the whole process for opposing or appealing Rukia's expulsion was while Orihime had decided to gather public support for Rukia. Dr. Ukitake was working on the faculty side of things. And they all were getting no where. Things like the fact that Rukia was related to a faculty member kept causing exceptions to many of the normal rules.

That was in part why Ichigo was going to see if his dad's friends could help. Both Dr. Urahara and Ms. Shihoin were pretty high up in the food chain at the university, and they might have some clout that a regular professor or department head might not. Normally, Ichigo would hesitate to use the connection; it really wasn't fair to those who didn't have personal connections to the University administration. However, this was hardly a normal situation. He wasn't about to let Rukia get expelled when there was something he could do about it.

He fidgeted nervously as he waited to be admitted to Urahara's office. Ichigo didn't like this situation at all. It seemed completely random to try and expel Rukia for something she didn't do. Didn't Professor Aizen have something better to do? The man was supposed to be extremely intelligent, and it more than a little strange that he didn't seem to realize that he had made an error in judgment somewhere. Unless he knew and either didn't care or was doing it deliberately. Of course, Ichigo couldn't think of why the man would want to do that. It wasn't like Rukia was any sort of threat to him or someone he could get something out of her. She was just a university student, albeit one with a famous family.

"Dr. Urahara's free now," the dark haired girl at the front desk smiled at him. "You can go on in."

Kisuke Urahara was a friend of Ichigo's dad. Ichigo didn't actually know the whole story, but he did know that Urahara had been involved with introducing his dad to his mom somehow. There had been a time when the man was frequent visitor to their house, but after Ichigo's mother had died, those visits had dwindled to perhaps one a year. Still, when he had started school here, Urahara had said that Ichigo could come to him if he was having problems. Ichigo was finally taking him up on the offer.

The man lounged in his chair idling playing with some sort of knick knack on his desk.

"Ichigo, what can I do for you?"

"Professor Aizen's trying to get my roommate expelled for something she didn't do."

The laid back demeanor vanished instantly. "Start at the beginning."

Ichigo sat down and began the tale. Maybe they were finally going to get somewhere.


	8. You Bring the Groom

**You Bring the Groom**

"I don't like this." Kisuke paced his office. "If anyone besides Aizen was involved I wouldn't be so concerned, but it's Aizen. And we both know that he's up to something."

Yoruichi perched on his desk. This was not a development that she had planned for. Neither of them trusted Sosuke Aizen any father than they could throw him. Unfortunately, they were some of the only people who a disturbing pattern in his actions over the last ten or fifteen years. Most people considered the man to be the model professor. Both Yoruichi and Kisuke knew better.

"We can't prove anything yet, Kisuke."

He sighed. "I know. I just hope we can put a stop to this before it gets out of hand. The man's already destroyed enough lives."

Both Yoruichi and Kisuke were certain that Aizen had been behind the firing of a number of faculty members ten years ago along with the expulsion of some of their students. Included in that had been a doctoral candidate Kisuke had inherited from his predecessor. Hiyori had been something like a younger sister to Kisuke, and he had hated the fact that he couldn't fix things for her. And now it looked like it was happening again.

"I just wish we knew what to look for. I mean, whatever his plan is, Aizen hasn't tipped his hand much."

Yoruichi shrugged. "Let's start from Rukia's end of things then. We know what he gained by getting rid of Hiyori and the others. It didn't escape either of us that their replacements for the most part were people trained by Aizen or at least friendly with him. What does he gain by getting Rukia expelled?"

Kisuke sighed and ran both his hands through his hair. "I don't know. I can't think of anything. She's just an undergraduate. She's not even in his department."

"Maybe we should look into that some. I doubt Aizen would do this for kicks."

Kisuke nodded. "Definitely. Maybe if we can figure out what he's trying to gain, we can figure out what he's up to. But we don't want him to know we're on to him."

"Right." Yoruichi nodded. "I'll check with my usual sources and see where that gets."

Kisuke met her eyes. "I don't want to fail this time. I can't let him destroy someone else's life."

"I know. We had better get busy."


	9. Slender and Pale

**Slender and Pale**

Rukia was exhausted. This whole ordeal was beginning to take a toll on her. She doubted she would still be fighting this if it weren't for Ichigo. Between strategy sessions with Ichigo and his friends on what to next and her regular school work things were stressful enough. But now the fact of her pending expulsion was public knowledge. A lot of people were supportive, but some weren't, and going any place other than the apartment no longer held much appeal. Plus, she had been forced to tell Byakuya about all this. That alone had been enough to put her stomach in knots and make her depressed.

Byakuya had taken the new moderately well. He hadn't scolded her or told her she was a disgrace to the family. Of course, he hadn't been that supportive either. Truthfully, Rukia couldn't tell what he had been thinking. It was a little like talking to a stone. It hadn't exactly been encouraging. Ichigo's friends on the other hand had been amazingly supportive. Rukia hadn't really realized how much they considered her one of them until this had started.

Ishida, Orihime, and Chad had thrown themselves into her defense with a ferocity that had surprised Rukia. They had been more supportive of her than many of her other friends, including some of her oldest friends. Oh, Rukia knew that Renji was worried about getting caught up in this and losing his scholarships in retribution, but he could at least act like he was convinced of her innocence. And he didn't have to avoid her all the time. Still, even with all the support she had, there were times when Rukia didn't think they were getting anywhere.

And she worried about what might happen to her friends who were sticking their necks out for her. Rukia didn't want to get them expelled too. That was a worst case scenario, but it could happen. And given her luck lately, Rukia was a little afraid that it would. She didn't want that to happen to her friends. She had tentatively pointed out that scenario to Ichigo who had laughed and told her that if he got expelled he'd apply to Arrancar University because they would probably accept him just to piss Seireitei University off. It didn't make her feel any better about it though.

"Hey," Ichigo poked her shoulder. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for class?"

Rukia sighed. "What's the point? It's not going to make any difference."

Ichigo frowned at her. "You're just going give up like that?"

She snuggled deeper into the couch. "We can't win this. No one is getting anywhere, and it seems like most people believe that I really plagiarized. I refuse to drag everyone through the mud for my own benefit. They deserve better than that. No one besides me should get hurt by this."

His frown deepened, and Ichigo hauled her up to a sitting position, so they were eye to eye.

"You're not the only one who gets hurt if you get expelled. Did you ever think of that? For one, if it could happen you, it could happen to another. For another, it would mean we failed you. We care about what happens to you. You've helped us all out one time or another. We want to be able to help you." Ichigo was almost scary in his intensity. "If you give up, they win. We're not going to-"

To her complete surprise, Ichigo cut himself off, leaned forward, and kissed her right on the mouth. Rukia blinked in shock then kissed him back. It only lasted a moment or two. Ichigo pulled back, and they just looked at each other. Where had that come from?


	10. Bring Me a Ring

**Bring Me a Ring**

Ichigo had sent Rukia off to class and then had thrown himself into cleaning the apartment to keep from over thinking things. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be working. All he could think about was that kiss. It he was honest with himself, Ichigo would admit that he'd been attracted to Rukia for a while now. He hadn't really been planning on doing anything about that attraction though, especially not when Rukia had so much on her plate already, but he couldn't really bring himself to regret the kiss. It wasn't his first kiss by any means, but there had been something special about it.

Still, right now wasn't exactly the best time to be starting a romance, and that was assuming Rukia was interested in him. He thought she might be, but she had never acted like Orihime or any of the other girls who had wanted to date him. It could be that she just saw him as a friend and didn't want to hurt his feelings. Ichigo had been in situations like that himself. And he did know that she had some other guy friends. Rukia had never said anything, but she could be dating on of them.

That thought made Ichigo rather jealous. None of those friends were really helping her with this mess. The jealous caught him by surprise, and it took him a minute or two to get a hold of himself. Ichigo hadn't realized that Rukia meant enough to him that he would be jealous of other people's relationships with her. He sighed. He didn't think that he was going to be able to ignore this. He hadn't asked for her to sweep into his life and go about changing things, but she had, and now he was stuck with the result. And truthfully, Ichigo didn't mind all that much.

Of course, he still didn't know what to do about it. Ichigo wasn't exactly an expert on romance, but he did know that starting a relationship in the midst of a time of crisis probably wasn't the smartest idea. But he couldn't just ignore things either. And he didn't know how Rukia felt. The scary thing was Ichigo could see the two of them twenty years from now still bickering with one another. He'd never had that kind of reaction to a girl before. It was more than a little disconcerting. Ichigo shook his head and stepped back to survey the kitchen. The place was probably clean enough that you could eat off the counters.

Ichigo sighed. He had homework that he really should do. Rukia would kill him if she thought his grades slipped because he was helping her out. They needed to get her through this mess first, and then he would ask her on a date. Of course, since Rukia was involved, things probably wouldn't go the way he had planned, but he was sure he would survive. At least he knew that if they did end up dating, their relationship would never be boring.


	11. For I Am Longing to Be

**For I'm Longing to Be**

Rukia headed off to class in something of a daze. Ichigo had kissed her. He had actually gone and kissed her. Not that Rukia really minded; it had been a very nice kiss. She hadn't thought he liked her that way though. She would admit to herself that she had developed something a little more serious than a crush on her friend. It had been hard not to. Ichigo was incredibly likeable when you got to know him, and his support was truthfully one of the only things that was keeping her going right now. It was extremely nice to have someone she knew she could lean on no matter what.

Of course, Rukia had known better than to think that he was in love with because of that. Ichigo would do the same for any of his friends, and Rukia knew that she wasn't as attractive as someone like Orihime or had known him as long as someone like Tatsuki. Ichigo had never done anything before now to indicate that he liked her more than just a friend, but then, he could be pretty oblivious when it came to girls. The kiss had caught her completely off guard.

And she didn't really know what to do about it. Rukia knew what she wanted to do, but she wasn't sure right now was the best time to start a relationship. And she didn't want to get Ichigo in more trouble than he already might be in for helping her. Plus, Rukia doubted that Byakuya would take her starting to date very well. He had a tendency to be a little overprotective of her at times. Besides, that kiss might have just been an impulse spurred by heightened emotions. It didn't have to mean anything just because she wanted it to.

Rukia sighed and found a seat in the classroom. It was one more thing to figure out, and right now she didn't feel up to the task. Maybe when this whole mess with her expulsion was over with. She had a hearing coming up soon with the university board in charge of things like this. Hopefully, it would go well. Rukia shook her head and paid attention to the professor who was starting the lecture. If she wasn't expelled, she didn't want to scramble to keep her grades up.


	12. The Envy of All I See

**The Envy of All I See**

With a deep sigh, Rukia buried her head in her hands. Her meeting with the university board had been canceled. That meant when she did finally see them it would be to hear their final decision about her expulsion. This was not encouraging at all. She just wished she knew why everything seemed to be against her in this. It didn't make any sense at all. There was no reason for this to be such a big deal. Rukia didn't think she had ever heard of anything like this happening before either. The closest thing she could come up with was when a bunch of professors and doctoral students had been dismissed.

Ichigo's hands settled on her shoulders and began dealing with her protesting muscles. They hadn't really talked about that kiss of theirs. Things had really been too crazy to, and they both were avoiding the subject. Rukia just had to get through the next few weeks. Unfortunately, it was looking like there was not going to be a happy conclusion to this, but at least she would know what was going to happen, and she could make plans from there. And deal with whatever was going on between her and Ichigo.

"We do have a plan b you know." Ichigo's voice was soothing. "I think that the university may be surprised at the audience they get at the announcement."

Rukia peered at his face suspiciously, but Ichigo's expression gave nothing away.

"What are you up to?"

"You'll have to wait and see," came his answer.

"Ichigo!" She jabbed him in the stomach.

He retaliated by tickling her. Rukia fought back, and soon the two of them were laughing too hard to see. When they finally calmed down some, Rukia found herself in a rather awkward position sprawled across Ichigo's lap. Ichigo slid a hand into her hair.

"I'm going to kiss you now," he informed her softly. "You should hit more or something if you don't want me to."

Oh, she wasn't about to do that. The kiss was softer than the first one and rather tentative. Rukia kissed back. One kiss became two which become four. This probably wasn't the most productive thing she could be doing, but it was definitely keeping her from thinking about her problems.


	13. For Papa

**For Papa**

Kisuke set down the stack of papers and sighed. They had found enough information to keep Rukia Kuchiki from getting expelled, but they hadn't found enough to get rid of Aizen. Hell, they couldn't even really prove what Aizen was up to. It looked like he was trying to get his hands on some of Kisuke's more dangerous inventions. To what ends they hadn't been able to determine. And to make matters worse, neither he nor Yoruichi had been able to figure out how this plan of Aizen's was supposed to work. At least they knew why it had involved Rukia. As the main legal representatives of the university, the Kuchiki family held all of the documents pertaining to Kisuke's most dangerous weapons. This included the information on where exactly they were located. The things were nearly impossible to find without that information.

What they didn't know was why Aizen wanted those inventions. And it was driving Kisuke crazy. There was also still the possibility that Aizen might manage to get Rukia expelled. There was no one other than themselves to corroborate the information they had. Kisuke didn't think that the university board would dismiss both him and Yoruichi and the public support Rukia's friends had drummed up, but then they hadn't listened to him when it came to Hiyori, Shinji, and the others.

"Do think this is enough?" he asked.

Yoruichi looked up from her own stack of papers. "It's going to have to be. We don't have enough time to dig anything more up, and it's what we've got.

Before he could reply to that, Ururu, Kisuke's secretary, stuck her head into the room.

"Dr. Urahara? Professor Ichimaru is here to see you. He said he had some information you would be interested in."


	14. Make Him a Scolar

**Make Him a Scholar**

Taking a deep breath, Rukia let it out slowly. She was calm. She was going to manage just fine. Ichigo reached over, squeezed her hand, and grinned at her. He had refused let her go to her final hearing alone. Well, it wasn't exactly a hearing. It was more of the university board telling her what her fate would be. With a sigh, she adjusted her suit skirt. Rukia had even dressed up for this damn thing. The neat grey suit hopefully made her look older and professional. She wanted to at least look confident at this thing even if she didn't feel it.

She wasn't alone. Ichigo and his friends were with her. As were Professor Ukitake, Ms. Shihoin, and Dr. Urahara. And when they arrived at the room where this was all supposed to go down, Rukia found the halls filled with students and faculty, many carrying signs and banners in her support. The breath left her lungs in a rush. She hadn't expected this sort of outpouring of support. Ishida and Orihime just traded smiles, and Rukia couldn't help but wonder what exactly they had been up to.

With another deep breath, Rukia stepped into the room. Professor Aizen was standing up by the university board. Rukia squeezed Ichigo's hand and stepped forward. She was ready for this. Whatever the result of today, Rukia was pretty sure she would be able to handle it. Flanked by Ichigo on one side and Professor Ukitake on the other, Rukia made her way over to the table and chairs clearly set up for her. The few seats for the audience were quickly filled, and people were actually filling up the standing room as well.

"Rukia Kuchiki, are you prepared to hear the board's decision on your status as a student at Seireitei University?" Yamamoto, the university's president, asked.

"She is not." Dr. Urahara announced before she could speak. "There is new information that must be presented before the board can make a decision."


	15. For Mama

**For Mama**

All eyes in the room turned to look at Urahara. Ichigo just raised an eyebrow. He hoped whatever his father's friend had up his sleeve would work. Rukia just gripped his hand tighter.

"Ms. Shihoin and I have come across information that implicates Dr. Aizen in framing Ms. Kuchiki for plagiarism. There are documents to corroborate this as well as testimony from another faculty member."

Yamamoto frowned. "Bring me the documents."

Urahara stepped forward and deposited a thick file on the table. Yamamoto opened the files and began leafing through the papers. The room was extremely silent. Ichigo squeezed Rukia's hand, trying to encourage her. This could all work out after all. Yamamoto looked up from the papers.

"Who is the faculty member who says they corroborate this information?"

"That would be me, Mr. President, sir." Dr. Gin Ichimaru's voice rang out in the room.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. He had not expected that at all. Ichimaru was the head of the sociology department, and if Ichigo had expected any professor to manipulate a student into getting expelled, it would be Ichimaru, not Aizen. Still, if the man could get Rukia off the hook, Ichigo would accept his help. Ichimaru wound his way through the crowd to the front of the room, his ever present smile never leaving his face. Yamamoto held a whispered conference with his colleagues on the university board.

"This meeting will be postponed. The board needs to speak with Dr. Ichimaru, Ms. Kuchiki, and Dr. Urahara and Ms. Shihoin in that order."

Rukia turned to look at him wide eyed, and Ichigo smiled at her. It looked like they had a chance after all.


	16. Make Him Rich as a King

**Make Him Rich As a King**

Three hours later, Rukia found herself back in the room waiting to hear what her fate would be. Except this time she wasn't nearly as nervous.

"Given the circumstances, Ms. Kuchiki, we have decided that you will remain a student in good standing at this university."

Rukia let out a little squeak of delight. She almost immediately found herself engulfed a hug from Ichigo before being passed on to the rest of her friends. President Yamamoto might still be talking, but she didn't care. Not now. Everything had worked out after all. The room seemed a whirl with celebration. Rukia found herself being passed around receiving hugs and congratulations, half the time from people she didn't even know. Even Byakuya unbent enough to tell her that he was proud of her and he was pleased that she would be continuing her studies.

Somehow, Rukia found herself back at Ichigo's side. Her friend gave her a broad grin.

"I told you everything would work out."

Rukia laughed. "So what do we do now?"

Ichigo ran a hand through his hair. "Dinner and a movie?"

"You mean like date?"

He huffed. "Yes, like a date. You're going to make me actually ask, aren't you?"

She just smiled at him. Ichigo sighed.

"Fine. Rukia, would you go out with me?"

Rukia laughed again and kissed his cheek. "Now was that so hard? We're going to see an action flick. I'm in the mood to see things blow up."

It was Ichigo's turn to laugh. He leaned down and kissed her properly. Rukia just wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Life was good.


	17. For Me

**For Me**

Kisuke watched Ichigo and Rukia kiss with a smirk. That had turned out rather well. He turned to Yoruichi to make a comment about a job well done and found her staring at one of Ichigo's friends. Inoue was her name he thought. Inoue was watching Ichigo and Rukia with a sad, wistful smile, completely unaware of the dark haired young man with glasses who was staring at her with the exact same look. A little smile played about Yoruichi's lips.

"What are you up to now, dear?" he asked.

Yoruichi turned her formidable smile on him. "I have more than one file prepared you know. And I know just who to tackle next."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Orihime Inoue and Uryuu Ishida. I even have a plan ready."

"Shall we return to your office for a strategy session then?"

"Let's."

They shared matching grins as they surveyed their handiwork so far. No, they weren't done by a long shot.


	18. Well I Wouldn't Holler

**Well I Wouldn't Holler**

Orihime sighed a little as made her way to class. Even though this was probably her favorite class, she was feeling down again. She'd been a little melancholy since it became clear that Ichigo was serious about Rukia Kuchiki. And she couldn't even be angry at Rukia. The other girl was nice, and it was clear that she made Ichigo happy. It was just Orihime had had this crush on Ichigo since she was in high school, and she had always expected they would get together eventually. It was hard dream to give up.

Finding a place to sit, Orihime set her notebook down with another sigh. At least today's class should be good. They had spent the first half of the term preparing for this. Now the assignments were going to be handed out, and they would actually get to real work instead of theoretical. Despite the fact that she was an art major, Orihime had taken Theatrical Design. She had the feeling that she might enjoy designing sets for plays and movies, and the class would give her a chance to explore that. It had completely blown her away to find out how much work and research went into the designs. The class covered costume, set, prop, and lighting design. The assignments that were being handed out today would involve actually designing one of those for one of the university's productions this year.

Of course, Orihime wouldn't be doing this on her own. She would be working with at least one other student in the class. They had signed up for elements that they would be interested in working on earlier in the semester. She had signed up for set design and costume design. Orihime wanted set design, but costume design wouldn't be too bad either. Either way, it would be a lot of fun. The professor came in carrying a stack of large envelopes.

"All right, people," Dr. Ayasegawa called. "I know you're all excited about this, so let's get down to it. When I call your names, come up and get your envelopes. You'll have the rest of class to go over your assignment and get to know you team."

Orihime listened closely, just waiting to hear who her team would be. It wasn't until Dr. Ayasegawa had gotten to the bottom of the stack of envelops that her name was called.

"Orihime Inoue and Uryuu Ishida."


	19. If He Were As Handsome As Anything

**If He Were As Handsome As Anything**

Uryuu was startled when his name was called with Orihime's. He hadn't expected that. Nearly every male in class wanted her on his design team. And to be the only other person on her team. He knew he was in for some hostility later. Still, he made his way down to the professor's desk to pick up their envelope with her. Orihime offered him a warm smile when he joined her. But that was Orihime. Friendly and kind to everyone and never seeing the bad side to most people. There were a few exceptions though. She thought Dr. Aizen was a bad person.

They took their envelop back to Orihime's desk before opening it. Several sheets of paper plus a thick libretto slid out of it. Uryuu reached for the paper while Orihime took the libretto.

"We've got _The Pirates of Penzance_." She seemed genuinely happy about it.

He scanned the assignment. "We're costume design. The play isn't actually until next seedeater so we have some time."

"So where do you want to start?"

Uryuu considered this. "We should probably find out what other teams are working on this play. We don't want the costumes to clash with the sets or blend in with them. We also will need a list of all the characters in the play, so we know how many costumes we need. It wouldn't hurt to do some research on the play and the time period to get some ideas about what to do for costumes."

"In that case, we might want to talk to whoever is in charge of the production as well. If the director is working with any particular concepts or ideas, we might want to work them into the costumes."

He nodded. It was a good idea, and it proved once again that Orihime wasn't as empty headed as everyone assumed. Just because she was gorgeous and incredibly kind most people tended to think that she was also stupid. Uryuu knew better. He had been in her class in high school. Orihime might be a little naive, but she wasn't stupid. It was just another thing that had attracted him to her.

Uryuu would admit to himself that he had a rather serious crush on Orihime. Not that she noticed, but then she could be a little oblivious when it came to things like relationships and especially when it came to people's opinions of her. Orihime was beautiful, kind, and intelligent, and she didn't seem to notice that nearly everyone thought she was something special for one reason or another. But as long as it had been clear that she wanted a relationship with Ichigo Kurosaki, Uryuu had never thought about making an overture to her. But now that Kurosaki was in what seemed to be a serious relationship with Rukia Kuchiki, what Orihime wanted might change. At least, he could hope.


	20. Night After Night

**Night After Night**

Orihime peered over the edge of her book at Ishida. He was also reading. They were both hip deep in research. After talking to the director of the play as well as the set design team, the two of them had felt the need to do some research one what the costumes might look like. This had involved watching every recording of the play they could get their hands on as well as looking up historical trends in clothing for the time period. The director of the play was going for an old fashioned look, but he wasn't insisting on strict historical accuracy. He wanted the play to more of give the feeling of a fairy tale or a fantasy story, that it was a world all its own.

To that end, Ishida and herself were currently looking through a number of books on costumes, both historical and not. Orihime wasn't quite sure what to make of Ishida. Oh, he was her friend of course, but she was starting to realize that he didn't quite treat her like anyone else did. Ishida was always polite and kind to her. When they met for study sessions, he always insisted on paying for any snacks they had. He never dismissed her opinions out of hand. He always walked her right to her door and made sure she was in her dorm before he left. It was nice. He made her feel special. And Orihime was beginning to wonder if she felt something more for him than friendship.

She glanced down at her book, not really seeing the images on its pages. For years Orihime was convinced that she was in love with Ichigo Kurosaki. But since he had started dating Rukia, Orihime was beginning to reexamine her feeling for him. Ichigo had been the first guy who had just treated her like a normal human being, and he had always understood her sadness at the loss of her older brother. But he had never treated her as anything more than a friend, and Orihime was beginning to wonder if her fixation on him had blinded her to some other possibilities.

Sighing, Orihime directed her attention back to what she was supposed to be doing. It wasn't an easy puzzle to figure out, and she did need to work on this project. They only had another two weeks before their first deadline. They would have to turn in concepts and preliminary sketches for at least the main characters in the play. Once they made decisions about the look they wanted for the costumes, it wouldn't be too hard to get that done, but they hadn't yet figured out their specific look for this play. Hence all the research. Ishida looked up from his book.

"Do you need a break?" He asked. "I was thinking about ordering some take out for dinner."

Orihime smiled. "That sounds great. What are you in the mood for?"

As they discussed the merits of various take out places, Orihime smiled. Whatever her feelings for Ishida were, he was definitely a good partner for a group project.


	21. In the Dark

**In the Dark**

Uryuu ordered a large café latte for himself and a large cinnamon dolce crème for Orihime. He had taken to picking up coffee and snacks before he went over to Orihime's apartment to work on their project. They had tried meeting at coffee shops and other public places to work on it, but they would constantly be interrupted. Once men figured out that he and Orihime were doing school work, they would come over and try to flirt with her. Orihime was too kind to just get rid of them, though she admitted they were kind of annoying and distracting. It was easier to meet in the privacy of her apartment. They would have met at his, but he had a roommate, and she didn't.

Once he had their drinks, it didn't take him long to reach Orihime's apartment building. It was conveniently just off campus near both a grocery store and several restaurants and coffee shops. Orihime buzzed him into the building, and it was a familiar hike up the stairs to her third floor apartment. Orihime met him at her apartment door with a smile; they were almost done with the first part of the assignment.

"I've got the books and everything set up on the table." Orihime took her drink. "I also have my art desk set up if we get to working on the preliminary sketches tonight."

They settled down to work, flagging examples in the books they had. In the end it turned out to be fairly easy to decide on costumes. The police men were the easiest as they could just use the tradition costume of a British Bobbie. For the pirates, they had gone with an image that matched the recent modern interpretations of pirates from movies. It was the Major-General and his daughters that had given the most trouble costume wise. The two of them had finally decided to model the Major-General's costume off of period military uniforms. For the girls, however, they had settled upon regency period costumes, like the ones found in Jane Austen movies. These were a little simpler style wise, but still fit the image of the play.

With those decisions made, the next step was to get the concept sketches made. This was easier said then done. Ishida flipped through yet another book of period costumes, looking for the details they needed. While they could make some of it up because they had decided on using historical models, there had to be a certain level of accuracy. Orihime sighed.

"Let's come back to the girls' costumes later. We can at least get the pirates and the police officers costume sketches done tonight."

Uryuu nodded, and they moved over to the art desk. Orihime was doing the actual drawing, but she had insisted he stick around and give her guidance. She hadn't actually ever drawn costumes that were going to be made before and wasn't sure what details needed to be included. They started with the police since there was only the regular police uniform and the sergeant's uniform to do. Orihime made carefully detailed sketches with using several charcoal pencils while he pointed out the details that would be important to someone actually making the costume. Once the black and white sketches were done, Orihime pulled out colored pencils, and the debates on which shades to use ensued. They repeated this process with every single costume that needed to be sketched out.

They had just finished with the last of the pirates when Orihime yawned. Uryuu checked his watch. It was nearly one in the morning. Orihime blinked sleepily at him.

"Do you want to crash on the couch? The buses will have stopped running, and it's a long walk home for you."

"Thanks."


	22. I'm Alone

**I'm Alone**

Orihime was beginning to think she needed some advice. While she had a crush on Ichigo for years, and there had always been a number of people who had been interested in her, Orihime really was a novice when it came to romantic relationships. And she was beginning to think she wanted one with Uryuu. She had realized that the night he had slept over. Orihime had made them both tea, and they had ended up falling asleep together on the couch. She had awakened the next morning cuddled in his arms and feeling incredibly happy.

The problem was she didn't know what to do next. Orihime was pretty sure she was supposed to do something to indicate to a guy that she was interested, but she wasn't sure what. She supposed she could ask him out on a date, but that seemed a little extreme. Besides, she could be reading things wrong. Maybe Uryuu just thought of her as a close friend. He didn't necessarily have to be attracted to her just because she was attracted to him. Orihime wasn't sure who she could go to for help though. The only one of her girlfriends who actually had a boyfriend right now was Rukia, and Orihime felt uncomfortable asking her.

With a sigh, Orihime grabbed her bag and headed out the door. She had class and then she had a meeting with her mentor. When she had started university, there had been an opportunity to sign up to be mentored by an older student. Orihime had gotten Rangiku Matsumoto, a math graduate student. Rangiku had taken it upon herself to make sure that Orihime was settled into university life and knew where to go to have fun as well as to study. When her class finally got out (Orihime found the history of Western art mind numbing at times), she headed for the café that was their designated meeting spot.

Rangiku was already there, lounging on one of the couches with an oversized cup that was probably full of hot chocolate. She smiled at Orihime and waved. Orihime waved back and headed to the counter to get her own drink. Once she had that, she joined Rangiku on the couch.

"So how's your project going?" Rangiku toyed with the ends of her pink scarf. "You were kind of worried about keeping up with it and the rest of your school work the last time we talked."

They chatted about the theater project for quite awhile, and somehow the subject of the conversation turned to her partner for the project rather than the project itself. Orihime hesitated a moment but then decided that she would ask anyway. Rangiku was beautiful and had many friends. As far as Orihime knew, the older woman didn't have a boyfriend, but that didn't mean she didn't know something about dating.

"Rangiku, um, do you know how you're supposed to let someone know you like them?" Orihime worried her bottom lip. "I mean, like that you're interested in dating them.

Rangiku's face was gentle. "Sometimes with guys you just have to take control. They can be surprisingly dense at times."

Orihime nodded, and Rangiku's continued.

"However, there are some times that even when it is the right guy, it isn't the right time." There was something sad in her eyes when she said that. "And of course there are times when they need a two by four to the head to even see the obvious."

Orihime laughed at that, and the conversation went on.


	23. So Find Me a Match

**So Find Me a Match**

Uryuu was beginning to wonder if he had done something wrong. For the past week or so, Orihime had been watching him out of the corner of her eye when she thought he wasn't looking. He had also caught her murmuring under her breath about something or another. He wasn't sure what was going on. However, it wasn't really affecting their work on the project, so he tried not to worry about it. They were actually doing pretty well project wise. The two of them had turned in the preliminary costume sketches along with a detailed summary about each costume and why they had chosen to do things as they had. It had received an A minus, so they were clearly one the right track.

They had some minor alterations to make to the original designs, but the next step was really to get patterns put together and start figuring out materials for the costumes. Thankfully, auditions for the play had been completed, so once the two of them had the patterns, they could start get measurements of the cast and make up some trial costumes. It was a good thing that both he and Orihime knew how to sew though. Otherwise, this would take a lot longer if he had to do all the sewing himself. They had just spent the last five hours going from fabric store to fabric store comparing prices and materials. One of the next pieces to turn in was a budget for their materials.

He didn't know about Orihime, but he was tried and hungry. Dinner sounded good to him. Then they could hit another three stores before everything closed for the night. Uryuu turned to broach the idea with her only to have Orihime place her hands on his shoulders, bounce up on her toes, and kiss him. He kissed her back. When they broke apart, Orihime glanced at him nervously. When he got his power of speech back, he asked, "Would you like to go out to dinner?"


	24. Of My Own

**Of My Own**

Orihime vigorously illustrated her point with her hands, causing her friends to laugh. She smiled and laughed as well before reaching over to take Ishida's hand in her own. Yoruichi smiled behind her newspaper. She and Kisuke were seated across the street at a little outdoor café. Next to her, Kisuke sighed. He was not watching the scene across the way. She frowned a little at her friend.

"What's wrong?"

"Them." He gestured to a young pair at the other end of the café who were clearly having a fight. "I don't know if we can wait any longer with them. I know you had another pair in mind, but I'm worried about them."

Momo Hinamori threw down her napkin and stalked out of the café. Yoruichi frowned. Aizen had truly damaged the young woman who had been his teaching assistant. She hadn't known she had even been involved in the whole mess until it was too late. Momo had managed to survive, but she was currently on academic probation, and her world had been pretty much been shattered. And one of the biggest causalities had been her friendship with Toushiro Hitsugaya, a young genius who was the current head of the math department.

Yoruichi nodded, watching a morose Hitsugaya stare at his food. "You're right. Let's get to work."


	25. Hodel Oh Hodel

**Hodel Oh Hodel**

Toushiro ran a hand through his hair as he graded the stack of tests on his desk. He missed his best friend. Ever since the whole Aizen scandal had started, he and Momo had been out of sorts with one another. She had been completely unwilling to even contemplate that her mentor and supervisor could have tried to get Rukia Kuchiki expelled. Toushiro would admit that at first it had seemed rather farfetched, but the amount of evidence against the man had finally convinced him. It hadn't convinced Momo.

In fact, she insisted that Gin Ichimaru must have come up with the entire plot in order to discredit Aizen. Toushiro rather doubted that. He might not like or trust Ichimaru, but what would be the point of such a scheme. Ichimaru didn't need to discredit Aizen to gain attention. Besides, the man already had tenure and was the head of his department. A scheme to discredit a fellow professor could quite possibly put those things in jeopardy. Though Toushiro wasn't going to argue with the results of Ichimaru's testimony.

Aizen had been fired, and it was unlikely that he was ever going to be able to get another position at a university. There had also been a number of, ah, incidents regards Aizen and his personal property. His red convertible had been keyed, toilet papered, whipping cream and tooth paste smeared across all surfaces. There had also been some rather interesting alterations to the prominent Superman comic display outside of Aizen's former office that everyone knew he was particularly proud of. Toushiro, of course, could not condone such acts of vandalism, but he also couldn't help feeling a vague sense of satisfaction at them as well.

Things were less amusing for Momo. While she had been cleared of any wrong doing since it was obvious that she had been an unwitting pawn, she was currently struggling to keep the Education Department running. While some of the other faculty had stepped in to take over Aizen's teaching duties, Momo was pretty much doing all of his administrative and committee work now. She was also doing most of this without much support. She had been cleared of any wrongdoing, but that didn't mean that people were stepping up to the plate to help her. In fact for the most part the opposite was true.

However, Toushiro wanted to help her. But every time they got together any more things just seemed to degenerate into fighting. No matter what they started talking about somehow the topic of Aizen always came up. If he just had a reason to keep them focused on something else maybe that would help. Toushiro sighed and stretched then sighed again when he realized that he'd just knocked a pile of papers off his desk. Reaching down to gather them up, he frowned as he read one of the memos. It was about all the complaints with the math class for students studying to become teachers. That class had been an ongoing problem and neither the professors nor the teachers in training had been happy about it for at least two years now.

There was sticky not attached to the back of the memo that, in handwriting he didn't recognize, suggested that maybe the Math and the Education departments could work together to solve the problem once and for all. Without even thinking about it, Toushiro reached for the phone.

"Hey, Momo, it's me. I was wondering if I could talk to you about a problem my department is having with your students?"


	26. Have I Made a Match For You

**Have I Made a Match For You**

Momo worried her bottom lip with her teeth. She really hoped this meeting wouldn't turn out like the last few times she had met up with Toushiro. She hated fighting with him, but she couldn't seem to help herself when it came to Dr. Aizen. There was just no way he could have done what he'd been accused of. He was a good man, and she couldn't understand why Toushiro couldn't see that. It felt like she was losing her best friend.

However, today might be different. Today they weren't just getting together as friends. Today they would be working to together. Momo knew she could be professional. She had been practically running the department lately. With a sigh, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She had arrived about ten minutes early, and now the waiting was killing her. She and Toushiro were meeting on neutral ground: one of the many cafes around campus. It was safer than in one of their offices. This way neither of them had the higher ground.

She reached out and absently picked up her mug, taking a sip of her mocha. She had to figure out how to fix this. She couldn't lose Toushiro too. His friendship was too precious to her. They had been good friends for years, and she didn't want that destroyed. Momo just couldn't understand why Toushiro couldn't see what a great person Dr. Aizen was. Dr. Aizen had been her mentor since she had started at Seireitei University, and she was feeling extremely lost without him. Being at odds with Toushiro wasn't helping either. Momo sighed. She just didn't know what to do?

"Momo?" Toushiro's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Hi."

He stood awkwardly beside the table she had staked out for them, holding a folder. "Hi."

"What's the problem?" Momo decided that skipping the small talk was the best plan. They should be fine if they only talked about work.

Toushiro took the seat opposite her. "It's the required math class for the teaching students. It's always been a problem, but last term things were really a mess. There was a group of students who actually came to my office to lodge a protest about the professor. Despite the fact that he was an atrocious teacher, there is the fact that the class never seems to work well. There has to be something we can do to fix the class."

Momo knew the class he was talking about. Typically, unless a student was planning on becoming a math or science teacher, it was the most hated of the required classes.

"I know part of the problem at least," she offered. "The students tend to be pretty intimidated going into the class. A lot of them come from a humanities or fine arts background and probably have only taken one or two math classes since high school. A lot of the professors forget that, and simply treat it as a class full of regular students taking a math class, and the students feel like they're in over their heads."

"Huh." Toushiro appeared to be thinking that over then he smiled at her. "That makes sense. So what other problems are there? And what can we do about them?"

Momo found herself smiling back. "Right. What sort of information did you bring?"

Maybe this would work.


	27. He's Handsome

**He's Handsome**

Toushiro was feeling cautiously optimistic. He and Momo had been working on revamping the math class for almost two weeks now, and they hadn't fought once. They had debated certain points, but those had been friendly exchanges with none of the hurt and anger that had so often frequented their arguments of late. And the work was actually going quite well. It was taking time, but completely reworking any class would do that. Things weren't quite back to where they had been before the whole Aizen scandal had started, but they were doing better.

He was grateful for that. Toushiro had missed being able to just talk to his best friend. He had also been screwing up his courage to ask her on a date. Of course, once he had finally gotten the courage to do that the whole Aizen scandal had broken, and their friendship had started falling apart. But maybe now he could give it another try. It couldn't hurt.

Clearly his throat, Toushiro looked across the table at Momo who was engrossed in an article.

"Momo? Would you like to go out to dinner tonight?"


	28. He's Young

**He's Young**

Feeling desperate, Momo searched through her closet for about the tenth time. She had no idea what to wear. She was going on a date with Toushiro in forty-five minutes, and she had absolutely no idea what to wear. She didn't even know where Toushiro was taking her. There were butterflies doing the mambo in her stomach, and Momo was really wishing she had an older sister to call. She'd had more than a little crush on Toushiro for years. Of course, she'd also had one on Dr. Aizen, and lately that had taken precedence, but part of the reason that had developed was because Toushiro didn't seem to notice her and Dr. Aizen did.

And none of this was solving her dilemma of what to wear. There had to be something in her closet that would work. After another ten minutes of dithering, Momo finally settled on a pale green dress patterned with peach colored flowers. It was causal but always looked good on her. With that decision made, Momo managed to get her hair and make up done and find her purse with five minutes to spare. She nervously checked the mirror. Was she going too overboard with all this? Maybe it wasn't that big a deal. She could be over thinking this. Maybe this was really just two friends going out to a nice dinner, and she was reading too much into the invitation.

The buzz of her doorbell jolted her out of her worries. Momo hurried to answer the door. Toushiro smiled nervously at her and held out a bouquet of calla lilies.


	29. All Right He's Sixty-Two

**All Right He's Sixty-Two**

It was an extremely pleasant evening. Toushiro took her out to one of her favorite restaurants down by the riverside. The food was delicious, and the conversation for once had no awkwardness in it. It was probably the best first date Momo had ever had. Toushiro walked her home and kissed her cheek before saying goodnight. It was a perfect evening.

And it left her more confused than ever. Their date had felt incredibly right. But did she really want to get involved with someone right now? She hadn't been dating Dr. Aizen, but she had been very fond of him. Was this simply a rebound? Momo didn't want it to be, but was half afraid it was. She didn't have much experience when it came to dating, but she'd heard about rebounds before. They didn't always end well. Besides, Toushiro deserved better.

Momo sighed. She really wished there was someone she could talk to about all this. But she was an only child and had been something of a tomboy growing up. Most of her friends were guys, and somehow, Momo didn't think their perspective on the situation was what she needed. Still, it had been a wonderful evening, and she had really enjoyed herself. Maybe if she just took things one day at a time, everything would work out.


	30. But He's a Nice Man

**But He's a Nice Man**

Momo was feeling more than a little crazy. Since their first date, she and Toushiro had gone out another two times. All of them wonderful dates. They were still working on restructuring the math class for the education majors, and they hadn't really fought in at least two weeks. Things were going pretty well up until yesterday. Yesterday Momo had found an old file of Dr. Aizen's in the office at the back of a file cabinet, and her world had gone into a tailspin.

The file had been both explicit and clear about Aizen's plans for the future. And about his feelings about her. She had merely been a useful tool to him, and he had planned to use her to not only destroy another student's life but to also destroy the university. He was also clear that he had no qualms about disposing of her once she was no longer useful. Momo had read the entire thing.

It had been eye opening, depressing, and had left her doubting herself. How had she missed seeing what Aizen was? Oh, before the accusations were made, didn't really count as he had fooled most everyone at that time, but once the accusations had been made, why had she still been so blind. Toushiro had been right about that. Toushiro had been right, and now Momo wasn't sure if she could face him knowing what an idiot and fool she had been.

With a sigh, she tried to get her attention back on the task at hand: getting her desk cleared of all the pending paperwork. Momo really wished she had an older sister or something like that. Continuing the slog through the various forms and reports that came with running a department at a university, Momo didn't notice someone enter her office until a throat was cleared. Startled, she looked up.

Rangiku Matsumoto, one of the master's students from the math department was standing in front of her desk.

"Am I interrupting something? I can come back later, Ms. Hinamori. This isn't urgent."

"No, that's all right." Momo smiled. "Anything is better than this paperwork."

Rangiku laughed at that. She was famous for hating the administrative end of things in her department. The woman was actually a couple years older than Momo. Rangiku had always struck Momo as a rather odd mix of things. She was probably the party girl of all the graduate students, but she was also a brilliant mathematician. Not that anyone would ever expect that from her looks. With strawberry-blond hair and a generous bust, Rangiku looked more like a supermodel than a math student. Momo didn't really know her all that well, but since Toushiro was Rangiku's faculty advisor for her thesis, the two women had met once or twice before.

"Dr. Hitsugaya just wanted me to drop off some copies of some curriculum ideas." Rangiku tilted her head to the side, considering Momo. "Are you all right? No offense, but you kind of seem distracted."

"It's nothing. Well, not nothing, but it's not really important. At least not to the university anyway. But-"

Rangiku cut her off with a knowing smile. "Ah, guy problems. Let me guess. My boss is being an idiot."

Momo shook her head. "I'm the one who's an idiot. I just can't figure out why he would be interested in me now."

Rangiku patted her hand. "We all make mistakes. Look, I consider Toushiro my little brother. My obnoxious, know-it-all, little brother, but still my little brother. And I know him well enough to know that he'll forgive you for making a mistake about Aizen. He loves you too much not to. He's just not very good at the whole dating thing."

"You're sure?"

"You two are adorable, you know that?" Rangiku laughed. "Yes, I'm sure. It won't hurt his ego if you admit you were wrong, but he's not going to hold it over you. He just doesn't like to see you hurt, and Aizen hurt you. That's why he couldn't let it go. Now, here are the papers, and I'm off to grade freshmen's math tests."

Momo watched the other woman leave in something like awe. Then she reapplied herself to the paperwork with renewed vigor. If she got it done by tomorrow, she could see if maybe Toushiro wanted to see a movie on Friday.


	31. A Good Catch

**A Good Catch**

Toushiro grinned as Momo debated whether to get junior mints or red vines to go with their popcorn. It had been her idea to go out to movies tonight, but it seemed like a pretty good one to him. It had taken some debate for them to agree on a movie to see, but in the end they had finally settled on a comedy. It was a compromise, but it was better than having to sit through the latest chick flick in his opinion. Besides, even if the movie wasn't great, the company was.

Once the vital movie snack decisions had been made, the two of them found seats in the theater. As it turned out, the movie was pretty good. Though Toushiro would admit that it didn't have his full attention once Momo had snuggled up to him and rest her head on his shoulder. He was very grateful that this was one of those theaters where the armrests were able to be moved. Toushiro slid an arm around her shoulders, and they spent the rest of the movie cuddled up like that.

After the movie had ended and the credits had finished rolling, neither of them really felt like parting company, so instead Toushiro suggested they stop for ice cream on their way back to Momo's apartment. The Ben and Jerry's shop was a little out of their way, but their ice cream was worth it. The couple lingered over their ice cream cones before finishing the walk home. They didn't really talk, but Toushiro didn't feel like they needed to. He was simply enjoying Momo's company, and he knew her well enough to realize that she was feeling the same way.

They held hands as the two of them finished the walk back to Momo's apartment. Toushiro couldn't help thinking that it had probably been the perfect date. He saw her to her door. Shoving his hands in his pockets, Toushiro smiled at her.

"I had a really good time tonight."

"Me too." She bit her lip then smiled. "I'd like to keep doing this for long time, Shiro."

"Me too." Toushiro leaned in a little closer to her.

Momo smiled up at him then bounced up on her toes, pressing her lips against his. Toushiro kissed her back. When the kiss ended, he was feeling kind of dazed, and given the look in Momo's eyes, she was feeling the same way. Blushing, she smiled.

"Good night, Shiro."

"Night, sweetheart," the endearment slipped off his tongue unexpectedly.

Her blush deepened, and she slipped into her apartment. Toushiro headed home with a smile that he couldn't wipe from his face.


	32. True True

**True True**

The young couple had been so wrapped up in one another that they hadn't noticed the pair of observers watching them in the theater. Yoruichi smiled. She would say that they had racked up another success. Hinamori and Hitsugaya seemed solidly back on track with both their friendship and their romance, and Hinamori seemed to be dealing with Aizen's betrayal much better now. They could probably quite safely close the up shop when it came to that particular couple.

Kisuke wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "So, who are our next victims?"

She hit him. "We actually owe one of them one. If Ichimaru hadn't come forward against Aizen, we wouldn't have had much hard evidence. The least we can do is help him finally get together with Rangiku Matsumoto."

"And how do you know he's even interested in her? Come to think of it, I've never seen the man show any kind of romantic interest in anyone."

Yoruichi rolled her eyes. "And how much of that was because Ichimaru didn't want to give Aizen anything that the man could hold over his head? Besides, if you bothered to look into their background, you'd know that Gin Ichimaru and Rangiku Matsumoto have been almost constant companions since childhood. That's not something easy to do when you're both in the foster system, and you don't go to that sort of trouble unless you care strongly about someone."

Kisuke held up his hands in surrender. "All right. It was just a question."

"It was a stupid one."

"So, then, what's the plan?"

She smiled. "I'm glad you asked."


	33. I Promise You'll Be Happy

**I Promise You'll Be Happy**

Rangiku Matsumoto was all in favor of romance. In fact, she'd done her part to assist a number of romances lately with quite good results. The thing was it was kind of annoying to be surrounded by happy couples when your own love life wasn't going so well. At least Rangiku knew she wasn't alone in that. Her friend Nanao Ise over in the English department was working her way out of denial over the fact that she was in love with her faculty supervisor. Rangiku at least would admit that she was in love with Gin Ichimaru.

She had been for years. They had been constant companions up until they had reached high school. They'd been in the foster care system together, and despite all of the changes of address and shuffling around, Gin had been the one constant in her life. Then Rangiku had been offered the chance to study at a private school based on her grades, and Gin hadn't let her turn it down despite the fact that it would mean moving away from him. They had lost touch over the years, and they hadn't been reunited until Ran had started working on her master's degree here at Seireitei University.

But there had been a change in their relationship. For one thing, Rangiku was now aware of the fact that she was in love with him, and for another, Gin had kept his distance to a certain extent. Oh, they had hung out together at university social events or if they ran into one another while out, but there had been very little in the way of moments alone together. In fact, Rangiku could only think of two instances where they had deliberately gotten together, both times at Gin's suggestion. One had been for her birthday, and the other had been after a particularly horrendous week of Rangiku's.

Given what had happened over the past few months with Aizen, Rangiku was beginning to wonder if he'd distanced himself from her in order to keep her out of Aizen's attention. That would indicated that Gin cared for her to some extent, but Rangiku still would have preferred to know if he shared her feelings or not. Now that Aizen was out of the picture, maybe she would have a chance to find out. Rangiku sighed. First she had to finish grading these stupid papers.


	34. And Even If You're Not

**And Even If You're Not**

Gin frowned at the report in front of him. There was something wrong with it even if he couldn't put his finger on exactly what. He knew the results of the latest research project weren't right. At least, the quantitative ones weren't. The results summarized from the interviews were fine, but the statistics looked all wrong. The only problem was he wasn't good enough with the math to figure out where the mistakes might be. The psychology professor knew how to read statistics, not calculate them. He sighed. He'd have to figure out some way of getting this sorted out. This was a major research project, and he was supposed to present it at a conference in a month.

Maybe Ran could help him sort it out. The math used for this would be peanuts to her. He hesitated at that thought. Before he wouldn't have dared to consider it. Anything that indicated that Rangiku was more than just a casual acquaintance to him had been forbidden. Gin had known that Aizen would not have hesitated to use Rangiku against him. And what Aizen hadn't known was it was Rangiku who had brought him down in the end. Gin honestly didn't think he would have acted if it hadn't been for the fact that Aizen had planned to use Rangiku in the stage of his plan. That had been what spurred Gin to betray Aizen. He hadn't been about to let Aizen do anything that might hurt Ran.

He had missed Ran. They had managed to spend some time together since she had arrived at Seireitei University, but it hadn't really been the same as it was marred by Gin's worry that Aizen would focus on her. Rangiku had always been the most precious person in Gin's life, and he had been unwilling to risk her. Even if it did mean he had to keep his distance. Except now he didn't have to. Of course, Gin wasn't entirely sure that Rangiku felt quite the same way. She had always been affectionate with those she cared about, and she could see him simply as a brother.

Gin had time to find out about that though. First things first, he needed to get these statistics sorted out. He reached for the phone.


	35. There's More to Life Than That

**There's More to Life Than That**

Rangiku had been a little surprised to receive a call from Gin. Pleased, but surprised. She was even more surprised when he asked her for her help. More than a little intrigued, Rangiku had agreed, and they had planned to get together for dinner and a discussion of the problem. It had seemed simple enough at the time. Except Rangiku had gotten caught up working on her thesis and had lost track of time, and now she was running late. She hadn't even had time to change out of the scruffy jeans, tank top, and long sleeved flannel shirt she'd been lounging around her apartment in. Needless to say, she was not looking her best.

At least the restaurant Gin had picked out wasn't too fancy. Rangiku skidded to a stop in front of the little sidewalk bistro and ran a hand through her hair. Gin smirked at her then pulled her into a hug.

"Just in time, Ran-chan. I was beginning to think you're going to stand me up," he teased.

He clearly had reservations since they were almost immediately shown to a table. Rangiku found herself catching Gin up on her latest projects, and they were halfway through the meal before he brought the reason he needed her help. Apparently, he was certain there was something wrong with the statistics that had been generated from the major research project that he'd been overseeing. Only, Gin couldn't figure out where things had gone wrong. He wanted her to look over the numbers for him.

"Not a problem. Did you bring them?"

"You'd think I'd deprive you of the joy of crunching numbers?" Gin teased, producing a sheaf of papers. "That's not all of it, but it will give you an idea of the problem."

Rangiku laughed. Gin had always liked to tease her about her love of numbers. She quickly scanned the papers. He was right when he said the math was wrong. Ran shook her head.

"Whoever was responsible for the computations is an idiot. There are at least two mistakes in one of the equations, and I'm pretty sure that they actually added wrong at some point." She flashed Gin a smile. "I can fix it though. It shouldn't be too hard. Actually, untangling these will be a good exercise. I haven't worked with these equations since last year."

Gin took one of her hands in his own. "After dinner, Ran-chan. Then I'll buy you a coffee and you can disappear into your equations. _"_


	36. Don't Ask Me What

**Don't Ask Me What**

Rangiku really had no idea just how appealing she looked when engrossed in her work. Gin wasn't sure she was even still aware of him. She was completely focused on the numbers in front of her. Two minutes after she had started looking at them, Ran had absently pulled her red-gold hair into a messy ponytail. Now she chewed on her bottom lip, absently taking a sip of her triple peppermint white chocolate mocha. The papers he'd brought her were now liberally covered in her distinctively scrawl. They'd been at the coffee shop for nearly two hours now, and Gin was getting the feeling that the staff wanted them to leave, so they could close up for the night.

Ran probably wasn't going to notice that though. Once she got into her numbers, it was hard to pry her away from them. Gin had never completely understood her fascination with numbers, but it was rather in endearing at times. Right now he just had to figure out how to pry her away from her numbers. He carefully pried the papers out of her hand before sliding his fingers between hers and pulling her hand up so he could kiss its back.

That apparently was enough to break Rangiku's concentration. Gin smiled.

"Come on, Ran-chan. The nice people want to go home, and you've got a class to teach tomorrow."

She made a face at him, but it didn't take her more than a few moments to be ready to go. Gin walked her back to her apartment, and they chatted about their fellow students and co-workers. Rangiku remarked on the fact that not only had her boss finally started dating, but that the undergraduate she was mentoring had started dating as well. Gin wasn't going to comment on it, but he couldn't help noticing that in at least one of those cases, there might have been outside interference. Then again, everyone was happier now that Hitsugaya and Hinamori weren't going at it hammer and tongs every time they ran into one another.

He left her on her doorstep. Rangiku thought she'd have the numbers dealt with buy the weekend. Gin had wished her a good night and kissed her cheek. He headed back to his own apartment wondering if this counted as a date.


	37. Chava

**Chava**

Rangiku arrived at her office in a much more cheerful mood than usual. The problem Gin had presented her was proving quite fun to tackle. She had always enjoyed mathematical challenges. And it didn't hurt that Gin was insisting on doing things like taking her out for lunch or dinner on a regular basis since she was helping him with this. Rangiku wasn't quite sure if the meals counted as dates or not. On the one hand, they really weren't all that different from the meals that they had shared in the past. On the other hand, however, Gin hadn't been this physically demonstrative with her before either. He had developed a tendency to hold her hand and kiss her cheek over the past week or so.

Ordinarily it wouldn't take Ran so long to deal with a math problem like this, but she kept getting interrupted by things like work and classes. But she was almost done. Rangiku hoped that wouldn't bring an end to their current closeness. She had missed Gin too much to go back to the way things had been. And she wanted to know if there could be more between the two of them. Gin was the one person Rangiku felt like risking her heart over, and she knew she would regret it more if she never tried. Of course, that didn't mean she knew how to go about moving into a romantic relationship with him.

But she would worry about that after she got his numbers straightened out. It would probably be another week before she was completely done with them at this rate. Rangiku hadn't intended for it to take so long, but she'd had a sudden influx of work lately. She had completely forgotten that midterms were coming up, and that meant both an excessive about of review assignments as well as actually making up the midterm. Rangiku had a policy that no two midterms she ever gave were exactly the same. It meant more work for her, but it did make it easy to spot anyone who had tried to use last term's answers.

Still, that didn't dampen her mood the way it would have normally. Rangiku hummed absently as she worked. She didn't realize that there was someone else in the small closet sized space that she called an office until the shadow fell over her computer monitor. Rangiku looked up to find her boss standing awkwardly in front of her desk.

Rangiku arched an eyebrow. "Can I help you?"

Hitsugaya looked uncomfortable and ran a hand through his hair. "I noticed that you've been spending a lot of time with Dr. Ichimaru lately. Given his role in recent events, do you think that's wise?"


	38. I Found Him

**I Found Him**

Rangiku frowned. She didn't think who she spent her time with was really any of his business.

"Not really. We've known each other for years after all, and I'm helping him sort out a mess the psych department had with some data calculations."

Hitsugaya sighed. "Look, I don't mean to interfere with your personal life or question your judgment, Matsumoto, but the man was somehow involved with the whole Aizen mess even if he did end up giving evidence against Aizen. It might not be the best idea to be associated with him right now."

She bristled at that. Rangiku didn't know the details of the whole mess with Aizen, but Gin hadn't hurt anyone involved who didn't deserve it. She could understand why Hitsugaya might be a little paranoid about things given that he was close to Momo Hinamori, but he had no right to either make implications about Gin's role in the matter or interfere with Rangiku's personal life.

He clearly realized that he had offended her and tried to sooth her ruffled feelings.

"Look, I'm just worried about how this could affect you. A number of the professors have questions about Ichimaru's involvement, and I don't want you to get caught up in any attempts at retaliation. Not when you're so close to getting your degree."

That didn't make Rangiku feel any better. And she didn't like the idea that someone might interfere with her getting her degree because of her friendship. It was inappropriate and unprofessional. She wasn't doing anything illegal or immoral, and her private life was no one's business.

"There is no reason for me not to obtain my degree unless I do not meet the requirements of the department which I do. If someone does deny me my degree for such a petty reason, I will be forced to file a complaint." Rangiku knew her voice was frosty. "Is there anything else you needed to see me about, Dr. Hitsugaya? If not, I really do need to finish constructing the midterms for my classes."

Her boss sighed but left, and Rangiku found her good mood ruined. She groaned and got back to work. She wasn't even really dating the man, and he was causing her trouble.


	39. Will You Be a Lucky Bride

**Will You Be a Lucky Bride**

Rangiku sighed and printed out her results. This was the last of the work for Gin. She'd gotten his statistics all sorted out, and now she no longer had them as an excuse. If she was reading her friend correctly, she wouldn't actually need an excuse to get together with him from now on, but Rangiku didn't know that for sure, and she was just a little bit uncertain about where she stood with the man.

He hadn't actually ever really asked her out after all. Most of the times he'd taken her out to eat recently, he had started out asking about the work she was doing for him. They hadn't stayed on that topic for long, but it was still there. Gin had never actually said he was interested in her romantically. She really needed to get him to clarify where he stood on the subject. She grabbed her jacket while the pages printed and started hunting for her shoes. Speaking of Gin, she was supposed to be meeting him at her local coffee ship in ten minutes. She had actually been planning on leaving earlier, but she had gotten distracted by an article in the new math journal that had just arrived in the mail today.

With the statistics tucked safely into her purse, Rangiku sped out the door. She should have just enough time to get there without being late. In her haste, Rangiku actually manage to get there with several minutes to spare. Not seeing Gin there, she took the time to get herself coffee. She was waiting for her cappuccino when a pair of arms slipped around her waist, and Gin rest his chin on her shoulder.

"What are you getting this time, Ran-chan?"

Her ever changing choice of coffee was a running joke with him. Rangiku laughed.

"A caramel, hazelnut cappuccino. I have your stats for you."

"Thanks, love."

They found a pair of chairs in a quiet corner, and Rangiku turned the statistics over to Gin. He tucked them into a folder before reaching for her hand again.

"Ne, Ran-chan, are you busy this weekend?"

She frowned slightly. "I'll have papers to grade, but other than that, no. Why?"

Gin played with her fingers. "I wanted to see if you were interested in dinner and movie."


	40. He's Tall

**He's Tall**

Rangiku blinked. That definitely sounded like he was asking her out. That answered her questions about where Gin saw their relationship going.

"What movie did you have in mind? I'm not going to let you drag me to another one of those stupid psychological thrillers. I want my action in a tangible form like things actually blowing up."

Gin laughed. "Don't you trust my judgment?"

"Not when it comes to movies," Rangiku teased. "How many times have we gone to a movie that you picked and neither of us enjoyed it?"

"There have been mitigating circumstances."

"No, you just can't pick out good movies unless you've seen them before."

"So when I should a pick you up?"

Rangiku considered this. "How about a Saturday matinee? We can have dinner afterwards."

He smiled. "Sounds good to me."

Their conversation turned to other subjects, but Rangiku couldn't help the warm feeling that settled in her chest. Gin really was interested in her. Now she just had to figure out what to wear for their date on Saturday.


	41. That Is From Side to Side

**That Is From Side to Side**

She was not normally prone to panicking, especially when there really was no need to. After all, dinner and movie had been something she and Gin had done for years. Of course, this would be Rangiku's first official date with him, but really how different could it be? Unfortunately, no matter how much Rangiku tried to convince herself of this, she couldn't quite seem to manage it. And that was why she was standing in front of her closet in complete agony over what to wear.

Thankfully, Rangiku did know a good way to put things in perspective. She reached for her phone and dialed up one of her fellow grad students. If anyone could help her right now, it was Nanao. And as expected Nanao didn't disappoint. Once Rangiku had laid out her problem, Nanao had sighed.

"Rangiku, you didn't have to do anything besides be yourself to attract the man. I doubt that has changed in the space of a few days. It's supposed to rain this evening and the temperature has been falling all day. Wear a comfortable pair of jeans and a one of those sweater tops you have."

As always, Nanao's practicality soothed Rangiku's panic. When Gin showed up to pick her up twenty minutes later, most of her nervousness had passed. They chatted about the classes they were teaching this term as they walked to the movie theater. Rangiku had chosen an action/comedy (she wasn't going to inflict a romantic comedy on him yet) that was playing at the closest theater to the school. While it wasn't the biggest theatre near campus, it did have the best prices. It was something of a secret. The most of undergrads didn't seem to be aware of the place, but nearly all of the grad students and professor knew it.

Gin bought popcorn, drinks, and the Reese's Pieces that Rangiku insisted on, and they headed in to the movie. Rangiku was pleased to find that they were almost the only ones in the theatre. That meant no one was going to complain when they made mocking comments about the movie, which inevitably they would. This was supposed to be a good movie, but not a great one, so mocking was inevitable at some point. Gin wrapped an arm around her shoulders as they settled into their seats, and Rangiku relaxed and settled back to enjoy the movie.


	42. You've Heard He Has a Temper

**You've Heard He Has a Temper**

Gin would say that his first official date with Rangiku was a success. They were currently lingering over dessert. After the movie (which had actually been pretty good; there had been at least a dozen explosions), he and Ran had debated and then settled on a little place that was kitty corner from the city's central library. It had been the right choice. The food had been delicious, and Ran's eyes had lit up when she saw the dessert menu. His nervousness had melted away once Rangiku had opened her front door, and Gin could honestly say that this was one of the best nights he'd had in a while.

With a satisfied sigh, Rangiku finished the last bite of her chocolate raspberry cheesecake. "That was great."

He paid the bill, and arm in arm, they began a leisurely walk back to Rangiku's apartment. It had stopped raining which was nice, and the downtown area was rather pretty at night. Rangiku seemed perfectly content to meander the way home in silence. Gin had never really expected to get to have this with her. As long as Aizen had been a threat, Gin hadn't been about to make a target over Rangiku. It had been bad enough that Aizen had ties that could cut his research funding to hold over him without giving the man a personal target to go after. However, now with Aizen in disgrace, Gin's funding should be safe enough.

And he would have sacrificed it anyway if that was what it took to protect Ran. She was too important to him to risk. Rangiku snuggled a little closer to him and rest her head on his shoulder, shaking him out of his thoughts. He smiled down at her; she was falling asleep.

"Come on, Ran-chan. Let's get you home before you nod off completely."

She was a little more awake by the time they reached her apartment, and she invited him in for some tea. Gin accepted. He listened as Rangiku puttered around her kitchen. Her apartment reflected her personality: warm colors with all sorts of interesting items laying around. There was clutter, but he had no doubt that Ran had all of the various piles organized, and if he moved anything she'd be annoyed with him. Rangiku appeared bearing two steaming mugs. She settled beside him on the couch, and for a few minutes they just sat together sipping their tea.

"Ne, Gin, I have a question." Rangiku sounded a little hesitant.

"Yes?"

She sighed. "You don't have to answer this. I'm just being curious and nosey. I wanted to know how you knew about Aizen's plans. And why you turned him in."


	43. He'll Beat You Every Night

**He'll Beat You Every Night**

Gin met her eyes. He knew Rangiku well enough to know that it wouldn't make a difference to her if he didn't answer the question. She would still trust him, still care about him. She had always let him keep his secrets when he wanted to. But part of him wanted to tell her.

"The next part of his plan involved destabilizing the math department," Gin admitted slowly, "since they were the most likely people to actually catch what he planned to do with the universities finances. He was going to use you to do, and then he was going to sacrifice up to whatever consequences there were. No matter what he did though, you would have gotten hurt, and I was unwilling to let that happen."

Rangiku held his gaze for a moment, and then the next thing he knew, he'd been bowled over by her. Gin found himself flat on his back on the couch with Rangiku's arms wrapped tightly around him and her head resting on his chest. Gin blinked startled. Rangiku's voice was muffled by his chest.

"Thank you."

He gently stroked her hair, realizing just what he'd done. Rangiku had almost been adopted a time or two. But it had never worked out, in part because there had always been something more important to the families than Rangiku. Rangiku had been more important than anything else to Gin. No one else had ever put her first before. Rangiku lifted her head slightly and pressed a kiss to his lips. Then she rest her head back on his chest and let out a happy sigh. Gin just held her close. All in all, it wasn't a bad first date.


	44. But Only When He's Sober

**But Only When He's Sober**

With a relieved sigh, Rangiku set aside the last of her midterms. They finally all were graded. It had taken her hours, but now she was done with it. Rangiku tucked the stack of papers into her bag for classes, so she could pass them back next week. Rangiku stretched her arms over her head. Time to get out of her office. She was going to call it a day. It was Friday thank goodness, so she wouldn't have to really worry about any schoolwork for another two days. Ran was looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend with her boyfriend.

Speaking of which, Rangiku had better get a move on in order to meet him. Gin had threatened to kidnap her if she didn't show up for dinner tonight. He had been rather concerned about the fact that she had been practically living in her office for the past week working on grading papers. Gin seemed to think that there were times when she couldn't take care of herself. This was why she wasn't going to mention to him that she'd skipped breakfast this morning and that her lunch had been all of three cookies.

Shutting down her computer, Rangiku grabbed her purse and turned out the lights. She locked her office up and headed out of the building. Rangiku waved to Dr. Hitsugaya as she headed out; he was still busy at work, but Ran wouldn't be at all surprised if Momo Hinamori showed up later with take out. Hitsugaya had pretty much gotten over his little bout of brotherly overprotectiveness. She had just chalked it up to the fact that he was just settling into his own romantic relationship with Momo and had been feeling overprotective in general.

Rangiku stepped out of the math building with a smile which widened when she found Gin waiting for her with an umbrella. He grinned at her.

"I was just about to figure out a plan to storm the math department in order to the rescue the fair grad student." He let out an exaggerated sigh. "Ah well."

Rangiku laughed, and together they headed out into the rainy night.


	45. So You're All Right

**So You're All Right**

Kisuke bit back a smile as Ichimaru and Matsumoto passed by the window of the coffee shop where he and Yoruichi were taking a break. Yoruichi slipped her fingers into his.

"I think that they're pretty much set." She grinned at her partner in crime. "And it just happens that circumstances are quite beneficial to give one of our final pairs in the right direction."

"Oh?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Haven't you been paying attention to the campus gossip lately? Dr. Unohana seems to have acquired a stalker, and she's been advised to find a friend to stay with for the next little while. She was checking around to who she might stay with."

Kisuke grinned back at her with a smile that matched Yoruichi's. "Well then, maybe we should help her find some place to stay."

"My thoughts exactly."


	46. Did You Think You'd Get a Prince

**Did You Think You'd Get a Prince**

Retsu Unohana sighed and tugged at her braid. She was more than a little frustrated at this point. She hadn't wanted to move out of her apartment for the next few weeks, but the suggestion from the police department had really been an order disguised as a suggestion. It didn't help that actually finding a place to stay was proving more than a little difficult. Retsu supposed she could move into a hotel, but that was expensive, and quite truthfully, she didn't like hotels very much, and with her hours, it could get to be inconvenient.

It looked like the only place she had to stay was with Jyuushiro Ukitake, the head of the communications department. It wasn't that she didn't like Jyuushiro; he was one of her favorite patients as well as her friend, but she hated to impose on him. It also didn't help that Retsu had developed something of a crush on him either. All right, it was more than a crush. She was in love with him. But Jyuushiro didn't date. In all the years she had known him, Retsu had never once seen him in a romantic relationship.

In part, she blamed his illness. Jyuu had a long standing chronic condition that while well managed was not curable. Because of this, he did have a tendency to think of himself as a burden on people. Jyuu had been diagnosed as a young man, and his condition had caused him difficulty over the years. Retsu didn't really care about that, but it was clear that it was something that bothered Jyuu.

Still, it had been clear over the years that Jyuushiro just wasn't interested in dating. So Retsu had kept quiet about her feelings. And quite frankly, Retsu was a little afraid of getting her heart broken if she did. But she had to go somewhere, and she would feel safer staying with Jyuu. She sighed. It was going to be a long few weeks.


	47. Well I Do the Best I Can

**Well I Do the Best I Can**

Jyuushiro did his best to keep from frowning as he helped Retsu carry her things into his house. His long time friend and physician might be wearing her normal, gentle smile, but she looked tired and worn to his eyes, and Jyuu almost thought she had lost some weight. This stalker business was weighing on her much more than she was letting show. He himself didn't know all of the details of the situation. But two weeks ago Retsu had finally reported to both campus security and the police her suspicions about having a stalker, and last week the police had all but ordered her out of her own home.

That was enough to upset anyone. And for someone like Retsu whose home was her refuge from the stress of work, it was definitely something that would throw them off balance. Jyuu hoped that he could help in some small way by opening his home to her. He quite truthfully wouldn't mind the company. He had always been fond of Retsu, and she was one of those people he enjoyed spending time with whether it was in conversation or just in shared silence. They had met years ago when she had been a resident at the university hospital where Jyuu had gone for treatment. It had taken him several years to actually befriend the rather reserved woman, but it had been well worth it.

Retsu was one of the few people he was completely comfortable with. The others consisted of his best friend, Shunsui, their mentor, Dr. Yamamoto, and oddly enough, a doctorial candidate from Shunsui's department Nanao Ise. Of course, the last could be because Shunsui was in love with the girl. But they were the only people he never worried about having an attack in front of or felt the need to downplay how lousy he was feeling on a bad day. Jyuu was pretty sure he'd developed a crush on her sometime after their first meeting, and these days he was fairly certain he was in love with her.

But it really wouldn't be far to saddle Retsu with someone who could quite possibly take a turn for the worse at any time. Yes, his illness was controlled for the most part right now, but there always were those unexpected relapses that could sometimes be quite life threatening. Jyuushiro quite honestly did not know how long he might have to life. It could be weeks or it could be years or decades even. But he wasn't going to inflict that uncertainty on someone else. Especially not someone he loved.


	48. With No Dowry

**With No Dowry**

Retsu let out a soft sigh as she padded around Jyuu's kitchen in bare feet. It felt both very comfortable and slightly odd. She was very much at home here. Jyuu had always had wonderful taste when it came both to his furniture and tableware. It might not be her own tea set, but it was a familiar one, and the act of making tea always made Retsu feel like she was at home. It was something she needed. She had actually just gotten in. The doctor had taken a late shift at the university hospital.

Upon arriving at her temporary home, Retsu had immediately changed into her nightgown and gone to fix herself tea. It was a long standing ritual of hers to help her unwind after work. As the steam began to rise from her tea, Retsu let out a soft sigh. So far, she'd been at Jyuushiro's place for about three days, and it seemed like her stalker hadn't found her here. That was something of a relief. She was still getting notes and photo at the hospital though. Retsu didn't know if they were still being delivered to her house as well. The police hadn't wanted her anywhere near there.

A soft noise in the hallway made her start.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," Jyuushiro's voice was soft.

He was dressed for bed, but it didn't look like he'd been asleep. Besides, Jyuu had been a night owl as long as she had known him. They used to spend hours chatting late at night and early in the morning when he was confined to the hospital. His best friend, Shunsui Kyoraku, was of the same temperament, but he got kicked out after visiting hours were over, and that had left Jyuu feeling more than a little lonely.

"That's all right," Retsu offered him a smile. "I'm a bit jumpier than normal."

He frowned at that. "The stalker. Why don't you tell me about that?"

Retsu sighed. She had known it would come up sooner or later. "All right. Why don't we find some place to sit down? It's a rather long story so far."


	49. No Money

**No Money**

Jyuushiro flicked on one of the lamps in the living room and led Retsu over to the couch. There was silence for a few minutes as the both settled on the couch, and then Retsu began to speak.

"I didn't even notice it at first. I've always gotten more than my fair share of notes from patients. But this one particular note writer just kept sending then. It wasn't that odd that there wasn't a signature, and at first, they were all pretty benign. And then I wasn't getting them once or twice a month, but every week, and then everyday. They started becoming more personal too. That was when I first spoke to security."

Retsu paused to take a sip of her tea. "It was right after that when the notes started coming to my home too. It was only a week later that there started to be photos with the notes. Hospital security couldn't seem to catch who was sending the notes or even stop the notes from showing up in my mail. So they called the police. And that was when the notes started getting darker and more possessive. The police watched what was going for a week before deciding that I needed to move out temporarily. They didn't exactly tell me what they have planned."

He knew her well enough to read the fear underlying her words and her anger about being forced into this position. Jyuu reached over and laid a hand on top of hers. Retsu smiled at him.

"Anyway, that's where things stand now. I haven't heard much from the police since I moved out. They don't seem to think that I'm in danger at work, so that at least is some what comforting. Honestly, I just want it all over with at that point."

She yawned, and Jyuu smiled.

"You should probably turn in. Those late shifts always wear you out."

"You're right." Retsu rose to her feet, but she paused in the doorway. "Thank you, Jyuushiro."


	50. No Family Background

**No Family Background**

Laughing, Retsu and Jyuushiro worked together as they cooked dinner. They had run into each other at the front door. He had been coming home after teaching his last class of the day while she had been coming home from her shift at the hospital. They had good naturedly bickered over what to have for dinner before setting on Italian and getting to work cooking it. It was really only Retsu's fifth night here, but Jyuu couldn't help feeling like she'd been a part of his evening routine for years.

Jyuushiro popped the garlic bread into the oven while Retsu finished chopping vegetables for the salad. The pasta was cooking on the stove, and Retsu had whipped together some sort of sauce for it as well. With the garlic bread baking, Jyuu got busy setting the table for two.

"So how was work today?"

Retsu shrugged and dumped the celery into the salad bowl. "Pretty routine. I supervised Isane with her patients for the most part. She's doing extremely well. I would like to break her of the habit of practically living at the hospital, but then again, I'm prone to that myself at times."

He laughed. "Finding her a nice young man might solve that problem."

Retsu shook her head. "Still trying to match make. I thought you had given that up when you failed to get Shunsui and Nanao together."

"I like happy endings," Jyuu defended. "Besides, we all know that it's only a matter of time with Shun and Nanao. Eventually, they're both going to get out of denial at the same time."

She laughed. "Perhaps. Sometimes I think those two will never come to terms with their feelings for one another. Besides, Isane may actually have a young man of her own. I just can't tell from the way she talks if she is just friends with young Mr. Hisagi or if they're something more."

"Shuuhei Hisagi? I've had him in a couple of my classes before. He seems nice enough."

They continued to gossip about their various students and friends among the faculty even as the meal finished cooking, and they sat down to eat. It was both comfortable and relaxing. Jyuushiro actually preferred sharing meals with others rather than eating on his own, and he would admit that he was really enjoying having Retsu stay with him. He out ate out with friends, but he rarely had anyone over to his place to eat except for Shunsui. If he had to choose whose company he preferred, Jyuu would be hard pressed to choose between Shunsui and Retsu. They were the two people in the world that he was most comfortable with.

However, he did have to admit that he might be getting addicted to having Retsu's quiet presence in his home. Jyuushiro wasn't sure he wanted to go back to living alone without her.


	51. Be Glad You Got a Man

**Be Glad You Got a Man**

Retsu Unohana was beyond tempted to lean over and kiss Jyuushiro senseless. The only thing that was stopping her was the fear that she would ruin the relationship they had and drive him away. But that fear was currently having some trouble winning out over the rest of her emotions. It had been a hell of a day. Retsu had lost two of her patients. There had been a major snafu with paperwork that she had spent nearly four hours sorting out, and then she'd had a meeting with the police only to find out that they had nothing new yet. She hadn't exactly been in a great mood when she came home.

She didn't know how Jyuu had known, but somehow he had. Within moments of her arriving home, dinner in the form of Chinese take out had arrived. After they'd eaten, Retsu had changed out of her work clothes and wandered into the kitchen to find there was an unopened pint of Cherry Garcia in the freezer. With the ice cream carton in hand, Retsu had settled in front of the TV with Jyuushiro's collection of Rick Steve's Europe DVDs. Then she sat back, at her ice cream, and let herself decompress.

And Jyuushiro had seemed to know exactly when she needed to be left alone and when to provide her with company. It was extremely nice. There had been very few people in her life (friends or lovers) who had understood when she needed space and when she needed someone else's presence. It also helped that Jyuu seemed to share her ideas of what made for good mindless entertainment. And there was something extremely peaceful and soothing about being curled up on the couch with this man, both of them just content to sit here and be. Now if only he shared her feelings.


	52. You Know That I'm

**You Know That I'm**

Jyuushiro was pretty sure he was going insane. That was probably the only reason he had agreed to go out drinking with Shunsui tonight. As much as he loved Retsu, he needed to get away from her for an evening and hopefully regain his self-control. Besides, Shun was a good person to commiserate with when it came to unrequited love. He had one of his own in the form of one of the doctoral candidates in his department. Shunsui could list you whole reams of reasons why he shouldn't be in love with Nanao Ise, but when it came down to it, Shunsui was head over heels for her in spite of all the good reasons he shouldn't be.

The problems with Shunsui's love life aside, Jyuushiro was glad to get out of the house if only for a night. He didn't have a problem with Retsu being there. In fact, it was just the opposite. He liked having her there too much. He had absolutely no idea what he was going to do when she left. What he really wanted was for her to stay. Even though it went against every single reason he had ever come up with for why he shouldn't get involved with anyone. Quite honestly, Jyuu just didn't know what to do about the whole situation.

So it made sense to him to try Shunsui's solution. At least once. Of course, after about three beers, Jyuu found himself spilling out the entire predicament to his best friend. Shunsui wasn't very helpful. He laughed and told Jyuu that he was making things too complicated. According to Shun, both he and Retsu deserved to be happy, and if being together made them happy, they should go for it. After all, they had no ethical reasons not to get involved with one another. Shunsui also threatened to turn him over to Nanao and have her pound some sense into him if he started on the whole 'I could relapse and die on her' thing again. According to Shunsui, no one could completely control what would happen to them; they just had to make the most of what time they had.

Jyuu wasn't sure if that helped any. Still, maybe it was worth a try. Retsu really was too special to just let her go.


	53. Still Very Young

**Still Very Young**

Her hands were shaking. Retsu noted it almost absently. She was quite aware that she was in shock, but she couldn't really bring herself to care. In her hands she held another note from her stalker. Apparently, he had discovered that she was no longer living in her house and hadn't taken that very well. The police had warned her that it wouldn't be surprising if her stalker's notes started getting more threatening towards her, but reading it was something else. It didn't help that when she had picked up the envelope, she hadn't had any idea what was inside. Retsu had thought it was from an insurance company; the envelope had been official letterhead.

She did her best to mask her reaction. There had been pictures with this note too. They were several weeks old, but they were of her in her own home in her pajamas and with her hair down. The picture also bore a sharp slash though her face, probably with a knife of some sort. Retsu shook her head when Isane questioned her about. There was no need to alarm her student. As calmly as she could manage, Retsu slipped the note and picture into one of the envelopes the police had left for her. Then she went back to dealing with her mail and the other paperwork of the day.

Retsu managed to keep it together for the rest of the day, though she knew she was distracted. Thankfully, she only had three hours left to her shift by the time she had gotten to her mail. Retsu managed to get home all right as well. She toed off her shoes in the entryway. The sounds of Jyuushiro puttering around the kitchen welcomed her home. Moments later her appeared in the door way.

"Hey," he smiled. "Welcome home."

And Retsu couldn't help herself. She burst into tears.


	54. Please Take Your Time

**Please Take Your Time**

Jyuushiro wasn't entirely sure how he ended up with a crying Retsu in his arms. He had heard her come in and came out of the kitchen to greet her. The next thing he knew Retsu had burst into tears. Not knowing what else to do, Jyuu had pulled her into his arms and held her. He had no idea what had caused her tears. Retsu wasn't exactly coherent. He managed to get her into the living room and sat the two of them down on the couch.

After some time, Retsu's sobs lessened in intensity. It wasn't too long after that when she sniffled a little and pulled away from him. Jyuu handed her his handkerchief. Retsu blew her nose and mopped at her eyes a little.

He smiled at her, "Feeling better?"

She just shrugged a little, and Jyuushiro could help himself; he engulfed her in a hug. Retsu let out a little sigh and hugged him back. He wasn't quite sure what was up. This wasn't the kind of reaction she had for a typical bad day at work. That he knew how to handle. Tears he wasn't so sure about. They weren't something that Retsu shared with him for the most part. The last time he had seen her even near tears had been back when he was hospitalized after a particularly horrendous day. Jyuushiro himself had just relapsed and was not doing well, and Retsu had lost not one but two patients, both of them children. He didn't think she had even known that he was awake. But she had ducked into his hospital room and nearly collapsed into the chair.

Jyuu hadn't been able to do anything for her then, but he could now. So he hugged her and held her close. She'd been the one who had supported him and given him strength so many times when he'd been sick, it was the least he could do for her to return the favor.


	55. Up To This Moment

**Up To This Minute**

Retsu lay curled up beside him, her head rest against his chest. Jyuushiro had covered them both with an afghan. It was grey and rainy outside, and he was content not to move. He'd convinced Retsu to take the day off, and he didn't have any classes to teach. So the two of them had basically just lounged around all day and relaxed. Jyuu thought it was something she needed. Retsu had come home yesterday completely strung out by the whole situation with the stalker, and Jyuushiro was honestly worried about her.

She had drifted off in the middle of the documentary they had been watching. Jyuushiro didn't mind. He had the suspicion that she hadn't been getting enough sleep lately. This whole stalker thing was really beginning to get to her. Jyuushiro ran a hand through her hair. He hoped that this was all resolved soon for her sake. He didn't want her to leave, but this couldn't be for her. Jyuushiro let out a sigh. He was going to have to tell her. He had come to grips with that fact. Jyuu didn't really know how to tell her he loved her, but he knew that he was either going to have to or let her go, and he wasn't willing to let her go.

He must have drifted off himself for the next time Jyuushiro opened his eyes, the only light was coming from the lamp on the end table. Beside him, Retsu stirred. She made a soft noise in her throat, and her eyelashes fluttered. Jyuu smiled.

"Hey."

She smiled. "Hey, what time is it?"

He glanced his watch. "Five-ish. Feeling better?"

She nodded and then reached up and kissed his cheek. "Yes, thank you. A mental health day was a really good idea."

"You're welcome."

The moment hung between them, and then Jyuu found himself leaning in to kiss Retsu. She kissed him back. They separated and just stared at one another for a minute. Retsu was smiling, and Jyuushiro knew that he was too. He reached out and twined his fingers with hers.

"What do you want to do for dinner?"


	56. I Misunderstood

**I Misunderstood**

Retsu Unohana felt like she was nineteen years old again. She supposed being in love could do that to a person. After that kiss last night, she and Jyuushiro had gone out to dinner together and had agreed to give dating a try. And that was what had put her in such a good mood despite the fact that it was six o'clock in the morning, and she had already dealt with two minor emergencies at the hospital. It was probably going to be one of those days, and she couldn't seem to bring herself to care. She was just feeling too good.

Dinner had been lovely. The two of them had gone out to a little bistro near campus. It had good food with a pleasant atmosphere. They had chatted about a number of things including that kiss. It hadn't been intentional really on either of their parts, but neither of them wanted to take it back. There were a few moments of awkwardness, but not much. They had been friends for years, but neither Retsu nor Jyuushiro seemed to know how the fact that they were now dating might change things in their relationship. To tell the truth, it didn't really seem to have changed all that much.

Well, except for the occasional kiss and the warm, fuzzy feeling that had taken up residence in her chest. Retsu hadn't realized it before, but they had already acted like a couple on many levels even before official agreed to become a couple. It was just little things like Jyuushiro's tendency to slip his hand in her while they were walking or Retsu's automatic inclination to fix his ties, but in hindsight, they were very coupley things to do. Not that Retsu minded discovering that. It just seemed to point to the fact that their relationship was going to last in the long run.

Even the news that the police didn't really have anything new to go on with her stalker and they thought that he was escalating didn't bother Retsu too much. At least there was one silver lining to this whole situation. If she hadn't been living with Jyuu, Retsu doubted that they would have finally gotten on the same page. She was sure that the stalker probably hadn't intended for that to happen, but Retsu wasn't going to complain.


	57. That I Could Get Stuck

**That I Could Get Stuck**

It happened too quickly for Jyuu to process. One minute he had been flirting with Retsu and being teased by Shunsui, and the next there was someone with a syringe trying to do something. He hadn't been sure entirely what. But Jyuushiro had pulled Retsu closer to him and away from their attacker, and Shunsui had put the man into the wall. Shun might act lazy, but he had a martial arts background and kept in very good practice. The next thing Jyuushiro knew, hospital security had showed up along with a police officer.

It took some time before everything got sorted out. The man who had tried to attack them was one of the students at the hospital. Mayuri Kurotsuchi was a medical student with an interest in genetics and experimentation. Retsu had been on one of his supervisory committees, and apparently he had formed something of a crush on her. However, she had also been one of the people to reject a number of his experiment proposals because they violated ethical standards. So Retsu had been the object of an odd love-hate obsessions for the man.

And he had not been very happy about being ignored. But what had really put the man over the edge was seeing Retsu finally take an interest in someone else. When it became clear that Retsu and Jyuushiro were really a couple now, it had spurred Kurotsuchi into violence. The police didn't have solid evidence yet, but they were getting a warrant for Kurotsuchi's apartment and expected to find evidence there that would prove him to be the stalker. Jyuushiro was just glad that it was all over.

Retsu leaned against him, her resting on his shoulder. Jyuu had kept an arm wrapped around her waist the entire time. He smiled down at her. At least all was well that ended well.


	58. For Good

**For Good**

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kisuke asked.

Yoruichi was toying with her new accessory, twisting it this way and that on her finger. "Which this are you talking about?"

"The attempting to match make the two people everyone else has failed at one. I'm not letting you back out of the other."

She smirked at him and reached for the remote control from her spot on the couch. "Would I do a thing like that to you?"

He looked up from his computer screen. "Perhaps."

Given that Retsu Unohana had shown up at the latest faculty get together on Jyuushiro Ukitake's arm, they were assuming that was a battle won. And that meant it was time to move on to another challenge. This time what Yoruichi had in mind was a true challenge. There probably wasn't a single matchmaker at Seireitei University that hadn't tried to get Shunsui Kyoraku (the head of the English department) and Nanao Ise (a doctoral candidate in the same department) to do something about their feelings for one another. To this day, no one had succeeded. It clearly wasn't because of lack of feeling between the two (a blind man could tell that they were in love with one another), and so it was a challenge that Yoruichi simply couldn't resist.

"I do hope you have some sort of solid plan," Kisuke commented. "I think everything has been tried with those two short of locking them in a closet together, and that may have happened too."

"It is a good idea, but no, I do have a plan," she smirked at him. "This time they're finally going to see the light."


	59. Dear Yenta

**Dear Yenta**

Nanao Ise felt like tearing at her hair. However, as this had become a rather common feeling, the doctoral student just sighed and reached for her cup of tea. It would not be exaggerating to say that she practically run the English department. Technically, that was Dr. Shunsui Kyoraku's job. He was the head of the department after all. However, while the man might be both a brilliant teacher and a phenomenal writer and researcher, the man was no administrator. Most of that fell to Nanao. She wasn't going to complain about it entirely. Her work did help pay for school, but there were days when it got to her.

There were days when that man got to her. Nanao had managed to develop a minor crush Dr. Kyoraku when she had been an undergraduate English major. Somewhere along the way that crush had turned into full-blown romantic feelings. Which of course was completely inappropriate given that he was one of her teachers and supervisors. Besides, Nanao was well aware that Shunsui Kyoraku was considered one of the most eligible bachelors on campus, and he flirted with everyone. Including her. In fact, the man flirted with her almost all the time. Nanao didn't read anything into it. He just liked to rile her up.

So Nanao would endure. She would have her doctorate in another year, and she could get through that time without doing something stupid and getting her heart broken. She didn't know what she would do once she got her doctorate, but she could worry about that later. Right now Nanao had enough on her plate. Even if the paperwork was driving her crazy.


	60. See That He's Gentle

**See That He's Gentle**

Shunsui Kyoraku was a little concerned that his beloved Nanao-chan was going to kill him. This time the situation wasn't entirely his fault. In fact, it wasn't his fault at all. The university had agreed to host the event without telling him until now. They would have just over a month to get things put together, and Shunsui knew that Nanao would end up doing most of the work. She was just so good at the organizational and administrative things. He honestly wasn't sure how he had managed before she had been hired as one of his office's work study students. Between the time she had been a first year undergraduate and now, Nanao had transformed the English department office into a well run, efficient machine.

And somewhere along the line, Shunsui had fallen in love with this bright, intelligent, challenging woman. And there was nothing he could really do about it. Yes, he flirted with her all the time, but Nanao never responded to that with anything other than exasperation, and he was known to flirt with all the girls. Besides, even if Nanao had felt the same way that he did, Shunsui wasn't really sure he would be comfortable pursuing a relationship with her right now. He was still her teacher. Well, technically. At this point, Shunsui considered Nanao an intellectual equal. He had no doubt that she would easily defend her dissertation and earn her doctorate. But until she had done that, he was technically her teacher, and he felt a little uncomfortable about trying to get into a relationship with her because of that.

Not that Nanao showed any inclination that she shared his feelings. Shunsui knew that she must have some fondness for him (otherwise he was pretty certain he'd be dead by now), but he doubted that her saw him as anything other than a friend and mentor and occasional nuisance. And he had better tell her about the conference sooner rather than later or she really was going to kill him.


	61. Remember You Were Also a Bride

**Remember You Were Also a Bride**

Nanao knew that strangling Shunsui with his ridiculous pink tie wouldn't help things, but it was rather tempting right now. It really wasn't his fault this time, and he had been pretty contrite about springing the conference on her like this even though he really hadn't had much more prior warning. He had even brought her a cup of her favorite tea to soften the blow. Still, preparing to host a national conference was not easy even when you had notice well in advance. Nanao had the sinking feeling that this thing was going to eat up all her free time for the next few months.

"Nanao-chan?" Shunsui's voice sounded concerned.

She offered him a tired smile. "Did anyone mention why they had to change conference venues at the last minute?"

He shook his head. "Not a word. Are we going to be able to manage this?"

Nanao sighed. "Probably. Though it's a good thing I'm not teaching or a TA this term."

It was the professor's turn to frown. "Do what you reasonably can to get this thing put together, Nanao, but don't sacrifice your work on your dissertation. That's more important by a long shot."

"I'm not sure that the school will agree with that." But it was nice that he thought so.

Shunsui shot her a look. "Then they can argue with me about that. I am your supervisor for this after all. You're ahead of schedule on your dissertation right now, but I'd like you to have the option of finishing and defending it early if you want. Besides, it is unfair to ask you to put your education on hold just because the school decided at the last minute to host a conference."

Nanao smiled at little at that. It was nice to know that he would go to bat for her. Hopefully, that wouldn't be necessary. Given that the university had decided to host this conference at the last minute, she hoped they would be willing to provide adequate support in order to get this thing off the ground. Nanao might be able to make the plans for the conference on her own, but there was no way that she could do everything herself. At least she wouldn't have to worry about the hosting duties. That would be the one thing that she knew for sure Dr. Kyoraku could handle. Nanao was more than happy to let him schmooze with the guests while she ran things from behind the scenes.

She let out sigh. "All right then. What information about the conference do you have for me?"


	62. It's Not That I'm Sentimental

**It's Not That I'm Sentimental**

Nanao knew that at first glance no one would believe her desk was her own. It was a chaotic mess between her class work, her dissertation research, and the administrative work for the English department. Her laptop wasn't covered by papers, but that was about the only thing. The walls around the desk were covered with sticky notes of various colors. It might be an odd way of keeping track of things, but it worked for Nanao.

With a sigh, Nanao cleared a space for her cup of tea before pulling up her spreadsheets for the conference preparations. While things were going well so far, Nanao was concerned about keeping things ahead of schedule. She really didn't need a thousand things to do at the last minute. Letting out a wistful sigh as she moved some of her research, Nanao settled down to see what was left to be accomplished for this week. She had promised herself that she would only work on the conference preparations for an hour, and then she would get some work on her dissertation done.

She wasn't willing to admit it to anyone, but the combination of her classes, writing her dissertation, running the English department, and getting the logistics for this conference set up were wearing her out. Nanao was used to hard work, but this was a little much. Still, it wasn't as if she could really pass most of the work off on to someone else. She had already delegated as much of the English department work as she dared off to the few professors in the department that could be trusted to actually get things done. And thankfully, she had already reserved all the rooms and facilities necessary for the conference. What she had left was organizing the catering, the get all the necessary materials like welcome packets and programs taken care of, arrange for the set up and the clean up, and make the arrangements for the housing and transportation of the main speakers and dignitaries.

At least the university that had originally been hosting the conference had the decency to send her their original plans. Most of what Nanao had to do now was either editing of already created materials or importing spread sheets of conference attendees to create name tags and the like. It was still time consuming and at times frustrating. Nanao would be more than glad when it was all over. Unfortunately for her, she had awhile before that yet.

When her self-enforced time limit was up, Nanao turned her attention from the conference to more interesting matters, namely her own research. Nanao's dissertation was looking at literary retellings of fairytales and their use of folklore motifs. It was fascinating, and quite honestly, Nanao was having a great deal of fun working on it. Dr. Kyoraku had been right about the fact that she was ahead on her work for the dissertation. If Nanao kept progressing at the rate she had been working on it, it would be ready for her to present and defend by the end of the summer.

Quite honestly, Nanao would like that. Knowing her friends, Nanao was fairly certain that once she had her doctorate Rangiku would drag her out for a night on the town, and maybe if she was drunk enough and no longer his student, Nanao would have enough courage to ask Shunsui Kyoraku out on a date. Nanao shook her head to clear it. All the stress must be getting to her. Firmly putting those thoughts out of her mind, Nanao turned her attention to Cinderella and her various incarnations and lost herself in her work.


	63. It's Just That I'm Terrified

**It's Just That I'm Terrified**

Nanao Ise was not having a good day. Not in any way, shape, or form. It had started with her oversleeping and had gotten progressively worse from there. Everything that could go wrong had from barely having anything to wear thanks to the fact that she hadn't gotten around to doing any laundry for the past week and a half to missing her bus. Twice. The second time the bus had actually driven past her without stopping. It was raining, and of course her umbrella had to spring a leak. So by the time Nanao had arrived on campus, she was wet, unhappy, and something of a mess.

And her day didn't get any better once she had arrived on campus. It seemed like one crisis after another. The English department's copier died followed the about half the faculty losing internet access in their offices. This was followed by two professors calling in sick at the last minute, and Nanao needing to cancel their classes for the day. She had just finished dealing with that when the caterer's for the conference called back with several major complications and at least one mistake. Nanao spend nearly two hours on the phone with them to get things cleared up, and at least a quarter of that time she on hold.

Then she had to run to class only to find that she'd left her paper that was due today at home. Thankfully, she did have it on a memory key, but get it printed out and stapled together had made Nanao late for class. The professor (who was not one of Nanao's favorites, but she was the only who taught this class and it was required) went long during her lecture, and by the time Nanao finally got back to the office, it was past five o'clock. Nanao sat down and got back to work, trying to ignore the fact that all she'd managed to eat so far today was a rather stale granola bar she had found in her desk.


	64. Plan Me No Plans

**Plan Me No Plans**

Shunsui couldn't help a smile as he slipped into the English department office, even though he was slightly concerned. Nanao was asleep at her desk, her head resting on her keyboard. Shunsui sighed and went to cover her shoulders with his jacket. This wasn't the first time he had found the young woman asleep like this, though it had been happening more frequently lately. Shunsui slipped into his own office to grab the book he had actually come for and to place a quick phone call to a take out place he knew Nanao liked. He doubted she had eaten any dinner.

Nanao worked herself far too hard at times, and she forgot to take care of herself. Shunsui felt that as both her teacher and her friend that it was his job to make sure she did things like eat and sleep regularly. And he was concerned that the conference planning seemed to be taking over Nanao's life lately. She had been managing her schoolwork too fairly well, but the young woman seemed much more tired these days than usual. Shunsui really wanted to know what had possessed the university administration to agree to host the conference at such a late date.

Twenty minutes later the food had arrived, and Shunsui was trying to figure out the safest way to wake Nanao. He knew from experience that she tended to react first than think later when startled. His lady had a hell of a right hook. The man finally settled on lightly jostling her shoulder. Thankfully, Nanao was not a deep sleeper. And she was absolutely adorable just waking up. It clearly took her a moment to realize just where she was, and Shunsui took advantage of her disorientation to open up the take out containers and set one on front of her.

"Steak teriyaki with rice and veggies. I also got you an iced tea."

Nanao blushed a little. "You didn't have too."

"Nonsense. You're a starving grad student. The least I can do is provide a meal once in awhile. Besides, we both know I couldn't manage the department without." Shunsui smiled at her and set out his own food. "Eat your dinner, precious, and then I'll drive you home. I don't want you out waiting for the bus this late at night."

The endearment had slipped out by accident. But it seemed Nanao was tired enough that she would let it pass. She didn't even protest his offer to drive her home, something that typically brought at least a token protest. Nanao was definitely tired. Shunsui finished his own food and waited for her to finish eating. He definitely needed to figure out a way to lighten Nanao's work load. Working on the damn conference was clearly wearing her out. When Nanao finally finished eating, she powered down her computer and tried to give him back his coat. Shunsui made her keep it. It might be spring, but it was still nippy at night, especially when it was windy.

Nanao seemed to doze off during the ten minute drive to her apartment, and Shunsui insisted on walking her to her door. It was clear to him that she wasn't entirely awake at this point. When they reached her apartment door, Nanao smiled at him.

"Thank you again."

"It's no problem."

She pressed a kiss to his cheek and slipped inside her apartment. Shunsui stood there stunned.


	65. I'm In No Rush

**I'm In No Rush**

Nanao was hoping that nobody would notice her for at least another hour or so. She was tucked away in a quiet corner of the library and was immersed in her dissertation. The young woman had been on a roll today with the project and was hoping to be able to at least finish the section that she was currently working on. If she could just get this section finished, Nanao would only have one more to write before she could sit down to do edits and revisions of her dissertation. It was hard to believe the thing was almost done.

Then again, Nanao had been slogging away at this thing for almost three years now. But at this rate she might have her doctorate by the end of the term, and that was exciting. Of course, that assumed no one disturbed her anytime soon. Nanao had fled to the library after being shooed out of the English department office this morning. Dr. Kyoraku had told her that the English department could survive at least one or two days without her, and he was giving her the rest of the week off work. As he had recruited some of the more organized undergraduate students to handle things while she was gone, Nanao wasn't too worried.

She had noticed that Dr. Kyoraku seemed to be taking a keen interest in her sleeping and eating habits lately. Nanao didn't entirely mind. She had long since given up being irked that the man insisted on doing things like buying her lunch or snacks while she was working in the office. She was starving doctoral student after all, and when she didn't have to spend money on food that meant she had more to spend on books. Nanao let out a sigh. She was getting distracted again.

That had been happening more often as well. It was one of the reasons she hadn't been working on her dissertation in her free time at the office. Nanao just couldn't seem to concentrate when Shunsui Kyoraku was around these days. It probably didn't help that the past few weeks had him showing more interest in her than usual. There was a little part of her that Nanao couldn't seem to stomp down that kept insisting that it meant he cared for her beyond just friendship or a student/teacher relationship. But the library and Nanao were good friends and at least here she could get some work done.


	66. Maybe I've Learned

**Maybe I've Learned**

Nanao did not scream at the person on the other end of the phone nor did she slam the phone back into its rest. Neither would help her very much even if it would be rather satisfying. Nanao did not consider herself to be a violent person, but the urge to hurt someone was rather overwhelming right now. Was there no one on this planet that could do something correctly the first time around? It couldn't be that difficult to follow directions.

The phone call had been from the university's library. Two weeks ago, Nanao had sent them a list of books from their special collections that were supposed to be on display for the conference. Apparently, that along with the paperwork she had filled out in order to borrow things from the special collections had been lost. And this close to the conference, Nanao would have to go and deal with things in person. It wouldn't normally be an issue, but it had to be done now, and Nanao had plans for this afternoon. She was not happy about having to put them off.

She had finished her dissertation last night (insomnia could be a wonderful thing at times), and Nanao had set aside this afternoon to go over it one last time before she submitted it. Quite truthfully, Nanao was ready to move on to the next step in the process. But that was going to have to wait until after she had gone to the library and dealt with things. Nanao was not looking forward to an afternoon spent in the special collections complete with dust and paperwork. But she might as well get it over with.

With a sigh, Nanao wrote a short message on a sticky note letting people know where she had gone and stuck it to her computer monitor. She wouldn't be able to take her cell phone into the archives (just about everything a person carried with them had to be check at the front desk), and at least this way people would know where to find her. Nanao had learned several years ago that leaving without letting people know where they could find her resulted in numerous hysterical voicemails when minor crises occurred in the office while she was gone.

After spending nearly twenty minutes filling out paperwork, Nanao tucked a pair of archival gloves into her pocket and ventured into the special collections. With a bookcart for her to collect items on, it didn't take Nanao long to lose herself in the work of assembling the necessary items for the display and loose track of time.


	67. Playing With Matches

**Playing With Matches**

Yoruichi was more than a little frustrated. Those two had to either some of the most stubborn people in the world or very deep in denial. Maybe both. There was clearly something between those two, and she had contrived a number of circumstances to force them into close contact, and yet neither of them had done a thing. Ise hadn't made a single move or overture, and for the first time in Yoruichi's experience, Shunsui was being extremely cautious and hesitant when it came to chasing a woman.

She was going to have to resort to an old standard in order to get things moving. Yoruichi was just waiting for Kisuke to return with the news that everything was arranged. They were engineering a couple mechanical failures to make sure that Shunsui and Ise weren't interrupted prematurely. Besides, a night locked in the archives wasn't going to hurt them, and Yoruichi was seriously considering smacking both of them if they didn't just get on with things.

Kisuke appear a few moments later with a grin. "We're all set. How are you going to get Shunsui over here?"

Yoruichi smirked. "Simple. I switched the note she left on her computer with the one I wrote. Given that mine's typed, he'll never know she didn't leave it."


	68. A Girl Can Get Burned

**A Girl Can Get Burned**

Nanao had assembled about half of the books she needed for the exhibition when a noise made her jump. She frowned as she glanced around. She didn't see anyone nearby, but given the way the stacks were constructed, she might not see anyone else until they were right on top of her. She let out a soft sigh. It was a bad habit of hers to get so caught up in work that the littlest sound could make her start.

Shaking her head, Nanao got back to work. She wanted to be done with this. The air in the archives was rather musty, and her nose had been itching for the past five minutes.

"Nanao?" Shunsui's voice echoed in the archives.

She jumped again; Nanao couldn't help it. She had not expected anyone else to be in here.

She must have inadvertently made a noise for moments later Shunsui appeared in the aisle of shelving she was looking through.

"There you are. I'm sorry it took me so long. I just got your note a half an ago."

Nanao frowned. There had been nothing in that note that would send him looking for her. "What do you mean?"

"The note you left on your computer said you needed to consult with me on something for the conference." It was Shunsui's turn to frown. "Didn't it?"

She shook her head. "The sticky note just said that I was here, and that I thought I'd be back in about two hours."

"It wasn't a sticky note. It was typed on a half sheet of paper and taped to your monitor."

"Why would anyone switch notes?" Nanao wondered aloud. She sighed. "I suppose it doesn't matter. I'm sorry you came over here for nothing though. I still have another dozen books to find before I can head back to the office."

Shunsui shrugged. "It's not like I'd be doing something else important. Give me half the list, and you can get out of here earlier."

Nanao rattled off a list of call numbers from memory, and Shunsui disappeared back into the stacks. She didn't mind the help. Anything that got her out of here quicker was appreciated. Though Nanao was puzzled by the switch of her note with the one that had sent Shunsui off to find her. It didn't really make sense for someone to do that. At least, unless it was another one of Rangiku's attempts to get Nanao together with Shunsui. That was always possible.

She shook her head. It didn't really matter at this point. Nanao quickly found her half of the remaining titles (it helped that they were all by the same author), and she was pleased to find that Shunsui had already pulled most of the books she had given him to find. A sigh of relief left her lips when the last book was on the cart. Nanao was definitely ready to go home. She and Shunsui chatted amiably about regency literature as they made their way to the archive's entrance. There was only one way in or out of the archives.

A frown appeared on Nanao's face once more when no one was at the desk, and the door appeared to be locked. There was no note either saying when some one might be back. She and Shunsui traded a look.

"Did the staff mention anything about closing earlier today?" he asked her.

Nanao shook her head. "No. Do you think whoever was on duty just took a break?"

"I don't know."

But there wasn't anything they could do until someone came back. Neither of them had a phone, and there wasn't one on this side of the door. They were stuck.


	69. Bring Me No Ring

**So Bring Me No Ring**

There really wasn't much of anything that they could do until someone came back and let them out. When it became clear that no one would be coming back quickly, the two of them decided to make themselves comfortable. Shunsui insisted that Nanao take the chair that went with the desk on this side of the door and settled himself on the floor, leaning back against the wall.

"How goes the work on your dissertation, Nanao-chan?"

Her violet eyes lit up. "I finished it last night. I just have to go through it and check for any grammar errors or continuity problems. With any luck, it will be ready for submission sometime next week."

"Congratulations." Shunsui was torn between pride at her accomplishments and regret that he was going to lose her.

Nanao blushed and ducked her head. "I still have to defend it in front of the committee. It's not a done deal yet."

Shunsui just shook his head with a smile. "Trust me, Nanao. You'll have no problem defending it. How does it feel to be done writing it?"

She let out a soft sigh. "Really good. As much as I enjoy my research, there were times when I was just so sick of working on the damn thing."

He laughed. "Most people feel that way when they're done."

It was not hard to get Nanao caught up in talking about her dissertation, and the more involved she got in the conversation, the more relaxed she became. Shunsui loved it when Nanao dropped her normal reserve and let people see the passionate side of her she hid. He was going to really miss her if she left once she had her doctorate. The two of them continued to discuss fairy tales and folklore and their effect on literature, losing track of time. It was only the rumbling of Nanao's stomach that interrupted them.

Nanao blushed. "I may have skipped lunch. I thought I was going to be home by now."

"You really should take better care of yourself, Nanao-chan." Shunsui smiled at her. "When we get out of here, I am taking you out to dinner in order to celebrate the fact that you've finished your dissertation, and you're not going to argue with me about it."

Nanao gave him a look. Shunsui held her gaze. Someone had to take care of her, and he would rather it be himself. Besides, Nanao took care of him all the time. He should be able to return the favor. Finally, Nanao looked away, ceding him the victory.

"How long have we been in here?" she asked instead.

Shunsui checked his watch. "It's been about two hours so far. At this point, we're getting close to the time when the archive is supposed to close."

Nanao sighed. "Great. Do you think that means no one is coming back?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, Nanao."

She sighed again and rubbed the back of her neck as if it hurt. Shunsui crooked a finger at her.

"Come're, Nanao-chan, and I'll give you a backrub."

She only hesitated for a moment before coming and settling on the floor in front of him.


	70. Groom Me No Groom

**Groom Me No Groom**

Nanao let out a soft sigh as Shunsui's hands worked out the kinks in her neck. Part of her kept pointing out that this was rather inappropriate while a larger part was enjoying the fact that her neck had stopped hurting. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was going to see them. Nanao was fairly sure that they had been forgotten about, but she was really trying not to think about it. She shivered a little.

"Cold, sweetheart?" Shunsui's voice rumbled in her ear.

Nanao nodded, not really trusting her voice at the moment. The archive was climate controlled in order to protect the books, and right now that meant it was colder than was really comfortable. Shunsui pulled her a little closer to his body and spread his jacket over their legs. Nanao let herself lean back against him. This was surprisingly comfortable, and Nanao continued to ignore the part of her mind that was insisting that she was treading on dangerous ground.

Shunsui tucked an errant lock of her hair behind her ear. "So, do you already have plans for what comes next after you've received your doctorate, or have you not planned that far just yet?"

Nanao shrugged a little. "I haven't planned that far yet. I didn't want to assume that I would get my doctorate and then have plans fall through at the last minute because I didn't get it."

And she didn't really know what she wanted to do next. Nanao was rather reluctant to leave the university. It had been her home for a number of years now, and she was quite happy here. Most of the people she knew either were students here or worked for the university. But she also didn't really know if she wanted to teach either. Research was her main passion in the academic world, but there weren't many jobs out there that would let her simply spend her days researching and writing.

"That's my practical Nanao-chan. I'll miss you when you go, you know. And not just because you make running the English department so much easier." Shunsui sighed, resting his chin on her shoulder. "You're so much more fun to debate literature with than most of the other faculty, and you've never sacrificed your own opinions on things in order to attempt to please me. And of course there's the fact that you're absolutely gorgeous when you get passionate about something."

Nanao knew that she had to be blushing furiously. Kyoraku had never really said something like that before. It was a lovely compliment. She hadn't realized that he'd enjoyed their debates so much.

"I'll miss you too if I end up leaving," Nanao admitted. "I've felt at home here."

Silence descended upon them at that point.


	71. Find Me No Find

**Find Me No Find**

Nanao had dozed off curled up against him. Shunsui had estimated they had been in the archives for nearly seven hours now. He wasn't at all surprised that Nanao had fallen asleep. He doubted that she'd been getting enough rest lately, and it was definitely past the time that Nanao would have gone home. As they didn't have much else to do, Shunsui let her sleep. Besides, as Nanao was basically curled up in his lap with her head pillowed on one of his arms, Shunsui wasn't going to complain. He didn't know if he'd ever get a chance to hold her like this again.

Still, the fact that she had admitted that she would miss the university (including him) if she left had given him hope. It had almost sounded like she didn't want to leave. Shunsui glanced down at the young woman in his arms. He knew he didn't want her to leave. She hadn't protested any of his endearments lately either.

"Would you stay if I asked you too?" he spoke quietly, not wanting to wake her; he didn't think he could ever ask that question when Nanao was awake.

It would be selfish of him to hold her back if she wanted to go. Shunsui loved her enough to let her go and spread her wings if that was what she wanted. Nanao shifted in his arms slightly, and Shunsui sighed. He personally didn't think they were going to get out of here until tomorrow morning. Clearly, no one had realized that they were in here when they locked up, and Shunsui doubted that anyone would be looking for himself or Nanao until tomorrow. And sadly, this part of the archives did not have an emergency exit. Shunsui would have gladly dealt with the hassle of setting off a fire alarm in exchange for getting out. Unfortunately for them, the nearest emergency exit was in the staff area on the other side of the door.

Nanao shifted in his arms again.

"What time is it?" Her voice was soft and sleepy.

"Around eleven I think. It's not morning yet. Though my guess is I'll be taking you out to breakfast instead of dinner." Shunsui smiled down at her. "Anything in particular you want?"

"Waffles. Belgian waffles and bacon and strawberries. The berries on the side, not on the waffles."

Shunsui doubted that Nanao was more than half awake. She was incredibly adorable half asleep though. Of course, Shunsui considered her adorable most of the time. Nanao adjusted herself, so she could look him in the eye.

"If I left here, I think I'd miss you the most." She sighed softly. "Why did you have to be my professor?"

He kissed the top of her head. "I won't be your professor anymore once you earn your doctorate. Besides, Nanao-chan, what would you do if I wasn't your professor?"

Nanao wouldn't meet his eyes. "I might say yes to a date, or I might just ask you out myself."

Shunsui slid a finger under her chin, so he could force her to look at him. Nanao was blushing, but her eyes clearly said what she couldn't. He leaned in just enough to brush his lips across her.

"I think I can work with that."


	72. Catch Me No Catch

**Catch Me No Catch**

When the archives staff member arrived to open the place up in the morning, she was more than a little surprised to find Shunsui and Nanao asleep on the other side. The two of them were more than happy to get out of the archive and barely waited long enough to hear the apologies and get the books for the display taken care before they both were out of there. Shunsui drove her to her apartment with instructions that she had fifteen minutes to change and get ready and then he was taking her out to breakfast.

A shower and a change of clothes did wonders to improve Nanao's mood, and she was ready and waiting when Shunsui arrived to collect her. Neither of them was that interested in talking during the drive to the restaurant. Shunsui had chosen a family breakfast place that was a favorite of the faculty at the university. There was very little conversation between the two of them until after they had both ordered and their food had arrived. Nanao knew that she didn't normally tuck into food with this sort of speed and gusto, but given yesterday, she figured she was entitled.

After two waffles and several cups of tea, Nanao was feeling quite pleasant. She let out a soft sigh and cradled her third cup of tea in her hands.

"I don't think I've ever seen you put away that much food, Nanao-chan."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "You're one to talk."

He just laughed and reached for one of her hands, twining their fingers together. "Feeling better?"

"I could use a decent night's sleep, but as I probably haven't gotten one of those during a term the entire time I've been a college student."

Shunsui just grinned back at her. "That's my Nanao-chan. I'd give you the day off, but I know how you feel about missing classes."

She rolled her eyes. Taking the day off was tempting, but Nanao knew she wouldn't do it. She probably would turn in early though. Some extra sleep tonight would be welcome. The conversation turned to more serious matters.

"When do you think that you'll have your dissertation in to the committee?"

Nanao frowned a little. "By the end of next week for sure. Why?"

Shunsui's smile widened. "So I can plan our first date, precious. Any preferences? Thai? Italian?"

She laughed. "You can surprise me. Just as long as you don't take me to one of those damn bars I keep dragging out of. I'm not sure your bartenders like me; they seem to think I'm bad for business."

"No bars, got it."

They smiled at one another, and Nanao did not pull her hand out of his. She still didn't really know what she was going to do once she got her doctorate (other than go on a date with Shunsui), but Nanao found she wasn't quite as worried about that anymore. She would figure something out. And she was going to look forward to that date.


	73. Unless He's a Matchless Match

**Unless He's a Matchless Match**

Yoruichi was having a blast. The university had insisted on throwing this party in honor of her engagement to Kisuke, and not only was it turning out to be better than most parties the university threw, but it also gave her a chance to survey her handiwork of the past year or so. All of the couples that she and Kisuke had conspired to get together had been invited, and it was nice to see just how well their work had gone.

For example, the younger set at the party had found a corner of the room and marked it out as their territory. Rukia was perched on the arm of Ichigo's chair while he and Ishida were engaged in an intense conversation. Given the looks on the two men's faces and their gestures, Yoruichi would guess that the topic was probably sports of some sort. Rukia was chatting with Orihime and Momo. The three of them were giggling about something and kept casting glances over at the refreshment table where Hitsugaya was standing.

Rangiku was over in another corner with Gin. Given the woman's flushed cheeks and delighted smile, Yoruichi would guess they had been entertaining themselves quite well. Not that she blamed them. Making out in a corner was at times the sanest way to survive some of the parties that the university threw. Jyuushiro and Retsu had arrived at the party arm in arm, though they had split up by this point. Jyuushiro seemed to be ribbing Shunsui about something, probably the fact that he had arrived at the part with one Dr. Nanao Ise on his arm. The English department's newest doctor looked like she felt a little out of place, but she was chatting with Retsu and Isane, and they would put her at ease.

It seemed that all of the couples she and Kisuke had set up were doing well. It had definitely been a fun project to work on, and it had definitely been quite entertaining. And for once, Yoruichi had managed to go six months without being called on the carpet for some sort of shenanigan. Kisuke hadn't blow anything up in months either. The science labs were very pleased about that. Their year's expenses were down for a change, and they weren't having to shuffles people around while repairs were taking place.

"Don't tell me you're up to more mischief, Princess. You look like a cat that's got the canary."

Yoruichi laughed and kissed Kisuke soundly. "I'm just pleased with our work. Aren't you? Everyone seems much happier now."

Kisuke just shook his head and grinned at her. "No more scheming until after the wedding. I can only juggle so many sets of plans at a time. Besides, who's let to get together?"

Yoruichi just grinned.


End file.
